Lithuanian Prosecutor General Evaldas Pashilis has launched a pre-trial investigation of crimes against humanity following a complaint by a citizen of Belarus, reports ” Interfax – West “.
A Belarusian currently living in Lithuania applied to prosecutor’s office 30 November and announced the violent actions that were committed against him by the police on October 13 in Minsk.
The circumstances of the incident have corpus delicti, “in relation to which, according to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, universal jurisdiction applies,” the Prosecutor General’s Office explained.
Mass protests have been going on in Belarus for four months. They were caused by the official results of the presidential elections, according to which Alexander Lukashenko, who ran for the sixth term Alexander Lukashenko won 80 percent of the vote, and the main opposition candidate, the wife of the arrested blogger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya – 10 percent.
The first protests were violently dispersed. Seven thousand people were detained, many of them told about beatings and torture in isolation wards. Several protesters are known to have died.
Lithuania has adopted a tough policy towards the Belarusian authorities. Vilnius was one of the first to impose sanctions against Minsk. Tikhanovskaya is currently located in the Baltic republic, the Seim officially recognized her as the President of Belarus.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda criticized the West for insufficient support of the Belarusian protesters. Lukashenka, on the other hand, claimed that the Balts were “given the command” fas “, and they blamed from under the fence.