The office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office to evaluate the grounds for potentially opening criminal proceedings against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, according to a letter published on Tuesday.
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, permitted Moscow to utilize Belarusian territory as a launchpad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Office of the President of Ukraine indicated that the letter was a response to a request from the Belarusian opposition group in exile, the Belarusian Democratic Forum. In May, the organization urged Zelenskyy to hold Lukashenko accountable for alleged complicity in war crimes, genocide, and “state terror”.
Accusations of complicity and forced displacement of children
The Belarusian Democratic Forum accused Lukashenko of enabling Russia’s war against Ukraine and the forced displacement of at least 2,442 Ukrainian children to Belarus. This program was documented by the Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab.
Lukashenko’s administration did not respond to a request for comment. In 2023, the Belarusian leader stated that Belarus had temporarily taken in some Ukrainian children to assist them in recovering from war injuries.
On Tuesday, Oleh Tatarov, a senior official in Zelenskyy’s Office, informed the Forum that the appeal had been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to “take appropriate response measures” if legal grounds exist. The letter was published by representatives of the Forum.
Zelenskyy’s Office and the Prosecutor General’s Office have not yet provided further comments on potential next steps.
Source: Reuters
