MINSK, 20 May (BelTA) – As part of the efforts to investigate the genocide of civilians in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period, the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus has sent a written request to the International Association of Genocide Scholars, BelTA informs referring to the department for interaction with mass media and editorial activity of the Prosecutor General's Office.
“This international non-partisan organization plays an important role in research and recognition of genocide. Thus, the Prosecutor General's Office plans to provide this organization with evidence of the genocide of Belarusians based on the investigation findings,” the department informed.
The request to the association was prompted by the need to comply with certain rules and procedures, including the paperwork requirements.
The association was informed that during the occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany in 1941-1944, the occupation authorities and their accomplices carried out more than 140 large-scale punitive operations, during which they destroyed several thousand villages, most of them together with their residents. It was also noted that about 400,000 people were deported from the country for forced labor, tens of thousands of whom died unable to withstand the harsh conditions of exploitation. More than 400 places of forced detention of the civilian population were created, where more than 1.4 million people were killed.
The Prosecutor General's Office is consistently working to bring to accountability those who committed genocide on the Belarusian land and to raise awareness of the matter to prevent gross violations of human rights.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) is an international, interdisciplinary, non-partisan organization dedicated to the study and prevention of genocide. The organization is guided in its activities by the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 9 December 1948.
