MINSK, 15 June (BelTA) – The Office of the Prosecutor General is examining activities of a grandfather of the current president of Poland Andrzej Duda. The grandfather was part of a Ukrainian punitive battalion, which operated in Belarus' territory during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Belarus' Prosecutor General Andrei Shved made the statement at the plenary session of the international parliamentary conference Historical Memory: The Great Victory Gained by Unity in the Belarusian parliament's Oval Hall on 15 June, BelTA has learned.
According to Andrei Shved, Latvian and Ukrainian police battalions took part in many punitive operations and demonstrated special cruelty. “We know names of some of the living criminals. They enjoy protection of foreign countries and hide in their territories. Despite that we are going to bring them to justice. At present we have information about the whereabouts of at least 400 individuals like that. In the course of investigating the criminal case the Office of the Prosecutor General sent 60 requests for legal aid concerning these persons to 18 countries, including requests for interrogation and other investigative actions. I am talking about Lithuania, Latvia, Canada, USA, UK, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, and other countries,” the official said.
“We are now actively documenting activities of a grandfather of the Polish president Andrzej Duda. He belonged to a Ukrainian punitive battalion, which demonstrated special cruelty primarily in Minsk Oblast and Vitebsk Oblast,” Andrei Shved noted.
