The truth about genocide: remember so that it does not happen again

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, received a report from Prosecutor General Andrei Shved

At the beginning of the meeting, the Head of State listed three main blocks of issues on which he would like to hear information. Firstly, it is supervision over the observance of the rule of law in the troops and law enforcement agencies, approaches to organising effective work in these matters. Another topic is the ongoing investigation into the facts of the genocide of the Belarusian people. Aleksandr Lukashenko also focused on the third block — the role of the Prosecutor General’s Office in monitoring and revealing negative facts in important areas of economic activity, such as agriculture and industry.

“This is not the first time that the issue of control, prosecutorial supervision over the situation in the Armed Forces has been raised. Compliance with laws and so on. At what level are we today?” asked the Belarusian leader. “There are a lot of proposals, including the creation of some kind of system of military prosecutors. I say ‘some kind of system’ because we are not talking about a return to that Soviet practice. But there must be some elements.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that there are many points of view on this issue. He asked what justified, in particular, the position of Andrei Shved.
“The fact that we need to strengthen, perhaps, control over compliance with the law among the military is a fact. I have already told you about this, that the prosecutor’s office somewhat distanced itself from the power bloc at one time,” emphasised the President. “Everywhere the eye of the prosecutor should be.”
The Head of State noted that it is not only about the army, because shoulder straps are also worn in many other law enforcement agencies, including the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Security Committee.

“The second issue concerns genocide. A number of proposals are being crystallised not only for a more serious consideration by our society of the facts of the genocide of the Belarusian people in the Great Patriotic War, but also for the promotion of this issue, especially among young people. To let the youth know what happened. For what? To prevent this from happening again,” stressed the President.

Aleksandr Lukashenko asked how the relevant work is being carried out at the moment and in the future.
The third topic of the report is also significant, the Head of State pointed out, “The issue of instructions to the Prosecutor General on important issues in the economy. Let’s say for agriculture it is the loss of livestock. Including the payment of wages. You are always looking at this issue. Security and so on.”
In the same vein, the prosecution authorities are faced with the task of countering and preventing manifestations of corruption.
“This is typical primarily for the system of industry. How are things in this area in the Gomel Region? There were many claims at the time. How is the new governor dealing with these issues?” the Belarusian leader outlined the questions.
As noted by the Prosecutor General, the law enforcement unit and the prosecutor’s office are actively working to eliminate negative phenomena, including in the field of agriculture. Andrei Shved spoke about the emerging positive trend associated with a reduction in the loss of livestock, “This is the result of two years of work of the entire law enforcement unit and authorities and administration. But at the same time, I think that so far no optimistic conclusions can be drawn. It is necessary to draw an objective conclusion based on the results of the year.”
The intensity of verification activities of the law enforcement unit will not decrease, since there are still a lot of shortcomings, mismanagement and criminal manifestations. The President was also informed about the revealed facts of violation of the law in the implementation of land reclamation, 14 criminal cases were initiated.
“It has been established that in almost all regions there are cases of theft of money... In addition, about one and a half thousand hectares, in which budget money (more than 9 million roubles) were invested in the course of land reclamation, have not yet been involved in economic turnover,” stated head of the oversight agency.
In this regard, Andrei Shved addressed all local leaders, “We will strive to ensure that everyone who committed a crime is held accountable for it. I appeal to the heads of all enterprises: please do everything necessary to ensure that you work according to the law.”
The Prosecutor General described the general criminal situation in the country as follows, 

“We now have the lowest crime rate in the last five years. 

There are 1,000 fewer crimes registered this year than in the same period last year. Less robberies, burglaries. Violent crimes against a person were committed by 12 percent less. These are grievous bodily harm, murders and so on. Significantly fewer people suffered from crime. In general, the situation is stable.”
On the same day, Aleksandr Lukashenko signed the law 'On Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Belarus'. The document is aimed at ensuring the inevitability of liability for genocide, other grave crimes and the restoration of historical justice.

 The task will be completed

As you know, in April 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case on the fact of the genocide of the population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period. The decision was based on information about the deaths of millions of Belarusians and other persons as a result of the atrocities of the German occupiers and their accomplices.
The criminal process launched by the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate the facts of the genocide is aimed at identifying specific individuals from among the German invaders and their accomplices, who managed to avoid responsibility for the murders of civilians, bullying and torture in concentration camps and ghettos, and mass deportation of the civilian population into German slavery.
After the report to the President, in an interview with journalists, Andrei Shved announced a number of figures, “At the moment, we have identified more than 2.5 thousand previously unknown settlements that were destroyed, including at least 80 that shared the fate of Khatyn. 17 thousand witnesses were interrogated. In addition, a lot of work has been done to perpetuate the memory, work is actively carried out with young people.”
The most important point that the Prosecutor General drew attention to during the report to the President, 
“It is extremely important that the results of the investigation of the criminal case on the genocide, that the truth about the genocide be brought to the attention of every citizen of our country, especially our children. In this regard, it was reported on certain aspects of the introduction of the results of the investigation into the educational process and ideological work. Specific instructions were given by the Head of State on the preparation of educational material, which should be in every school from September 1st this year. This task will be completed.”

Creation of Main Military Prosecutor’s Office to be discussed in Belarus

Following the report to the President of Belarus, Prosecutor General Andrei Shved commented on this topic to journalists. One of the issues during the event with the Head of State was the control and prosecutorial supervision over the situation in the Armed Forces. According to Andrei Shved, it was about reforming the system of prosecution bodies and creating the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office, 
“This is due to a number of objective circumstances, including the overall situation that has developed around our country. The Head of State studied these proposals, and instructed to separately once again discuss this issue in a narrow circle with the heads of relevant law enforcement and other state bodies.”
As a reminder, since September 1st, 2014, the Belarusian Military Prosecutor’s Office and 11 intergarrison military prosecutor’s offices have been liquidated in the country. The powers to oversee the implementation of legislation in the Armed Forces, other troops and military formations of Belarus, state bodies in which military service is provided, are vested in the Prosecutor General’s Office and territorial prosecutor’s offices.
Andrei Shved fundamentally emphasised, “This is not a return to the old practice. The Belarusian Military Prosecutor’s Office was liquidated in 2014. Then there was a completely different situation. Including the military component was completely different. We are not talking about recreating in that guise, but about creating the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office in a truncated version, the number of which is several times smaller than the Belarusian Military Prosecutor’s Office. If such a decision is made, the military prosecutors will be exclusively in charge of supervising the observance of the law in the troops at different times. And the decision on this will be made only on the basis of the results of an additional meeting with the Head of State.”

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by