MINSK, 14 December (BelTA) – Passing the bill on the genocide of the Belarusian people is a step of great political importance, Chairman of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko said, BelTA has learned.
The bill “On the genocide of the Belarusian people” passed its first and second reading at the sixth session of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus. The bill was submitted to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament, by MP Lilia Ananich. It is the first legislative document to recognize the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War and in the post-war period. In addition, the bill introduces criminal responsibility for the genocide denial in a public speech or in a printed or publicly displayed work, or in the media, or in the Internet and another public telecommunication network.
"I would like to thank Lilia Ananich, the author of the bill, the Prosecutor General's Office, everyone who took part in the preparation of this bill: the National Center for Legislation and Legal Research, the National Academy of Sciences, the archives experts, and members of the House of Representatives. This bill condemns the greatest crime of Nazi Germany and its accomplices every committed in the history of mankind. Sixty million people died during the Second World War. Of these, about 30 million were citizens of the Soviet Union. Belarus lost its every third resident," Vladimir Andreichenko said.
The speaker stressed that there is not a single family in Belarus that would not have suffered losses during the Great Patriotic War. "Therefore, the adoption of the bill is of very important political importance. This law will be the starting point in achieving the international recognition of the genocide of the Belarusian people," he said.
The bill also contains provisions on commemorating the genocide victims. It seeks to raise awareness and promote education campaigns in order to shape appropriate moral, social and political attitudes to this matter.
