Minsk actively works with Russia, interacts with Israel, Germany in case of WWII genocide of Belarusian people - prosecutor
MINSK. May 6 (Interfax) - As it investigates the World War II genocide of the Belarusian people, Belarus receives active assistance from Russia and cooperates with Israel, Germany and other countries, Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrei Shved said on Friday.
"We are actively working in the archives of the Russian Federation and other countries. As regards international contacts, we are now engaged in serious work with Russian colleagues and are receiving active assistance from them," the press service for the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office quoted Shved as saying.
"Israel has been demonstrating serious interest recently. They have asked us to facilitate the transfer of a number of crucial documents. We are committed to constructive interaction. A draft agreement has been drawn up with relevant Israeli agencies to allow us to ensure under this contract the handover of materials which we received and which are kept in Israeli's foundations and institutions. They possess an enormous number of materials related to the Holocaust. And it is highly important for us to have these documents to investigate the criminal case opened into the genocide of the Belarusian people," he said.
"The first reports have been received from Germany, which has interested persons who are also ready to provide us with materials, video footage photo archives. We have also received reports from a number of other states related to the implementation of requests to search for Estonians who are still alive," Shved said.
"Some countries have requested additional information. Work is ongoing in order to clarify the location of criminals who are still alive and to adopt a decision on their responsibility," he said.
A criminal case was opened in Belarus in 2021 based into the genocide of the people of Belarus in the years of the Great Patriotic War. Prosecutor Shved said the goal of this investigation was to secure recognition of Belarus as a victim of genocide and to stop attempts at depreciating historical facts.
According to the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office, more than 400 places where civilians were held, 260 death camps, and 170 ghettos where at least 1.5 million people were killed functioned in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. According to contemporary data, Belarus lost some three million civilians, or about one-third of its population, during the years of the German occupation.
In early 2022, the Belarusian president signed into law a bill on the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War.
The law recognizes at the legislative level the genocide of the Belarusian people perpetrated by Nazi criminals and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War and in the post-war period (until 1951). The law defines as the Belarusian people all Soviet citizens who lived in the territory of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic over those years and introduces criminal liability for denying the genocide of the Belarusian people in public speeches.