Polish ambassador summoned to Belarusian Foreign Ministry - spokesperson
MINSK. March 12 (Interfax) - The Polish ambassador in Minsk has been summoned to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry to provide explanation for the reassessment by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) of actions of field commander Romuald Rajs, nicknamed "Bury", who had been executed for the Belarusian genocide.
"The Polish ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry to provide relevant explanations," the Belarusian Foreign Ministry's information and digital diplomacy department head and spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said.
The criminal, who personally ordered and participated in the killing of civilians from the Belarusian villages of Podlachia can be rehabilitated neither in the eyes of Belarusians, nor in the historical memory of other sane people, he said.
"Polish scientists gathered enough proof of his crimes. The commission of the Institute of National Remembrance made relevant conclusions on the basis of facts rather than theoretic reasoning in 2005. One must be mature and brave to admit that," Glaz said.
"Of particular concern was sheer cynicism of certain Polish 'researches', on whose conclusions the IPN's statement is based," Glaz said. In particular, justifying him, they stated that Bury had an opportunity to "burn much more Belarusian villages in the powiat of Bielsk Podlaski rather than only five," the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said.
"We expect the Polish authorities to make official public comments as to whether such assessment of Bury's actions is an official point of view and how it correlates with the steps to establish a dialogue, including a historical one, recently taken by the parties," Glaz said.
Rajs, also known as "Bury", is a Polish war criminal. In January-February 1946, Rajs' gang committed a mass murder of 79 Belarusians in Eastern Poland. It was later recognized as genocide.
The Polish right-wing radical forces view Rajs as a hero, which is condemned by Belarusian politicians.