On November 7, Pavel Latushka and representatives of the National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) team held a meeting at the office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. During the meeting, they presented the second part of the Article 15(2) Communication, which includes additional materials regarding the involvement of dictator Lukashenko and his accomplices in the war crime of the unlawful deportation/transfer of Ukrainian children.
The newly collected materials compiled by the NAM team serve as a complement to the initial communication submitted by the NAM on June 27, 2023, in accordance with Article 15(2) of the Rome Statute.
The materials submitted to the ICC consist of the following:
1. Additional evidence proving Lukashenko's direct participation in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus. The NAM team has established a hierarchical structure of "superior-subordinate" relationships, highlighting Lukashenko's position at the top, as the self-proclaimed President of Belarus who holds power unlawfully. Furthermore, he serves as the chairman of the Supreme State Council of the so-called Union State of Belarus and Russia.
It is worth noting that on June 27, the same day the initial communication was transmitted to the ICC, Lukashenko made a statement essentially admitting his role in these crimes.
Additionally, on August 11, he publicly reiterated his personal decision to fully support the Talay Foundation in organizing the transfer of children from occupied territories in Ukraine to Belarus for so-called "rehabilitation" purposes. Lukashenko specifically emphasized that the funding for this activity came from the budget of the Union State of Belarus and Russia and was his personal initiative.
2. Evidence and previously unknown facts regarding the involvement of various Belarusian and Russian organizations, as well as their leaders and members, in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Belarus.
3. Detailed evidence concerning the re-education program for Ukrainian children under the guise of a so-called "rehabilitation" program at the Dubrava camp, which is managed by the state company Belaruskali.
The additional materials provide substantiation that the children were not taken to the Dubrava Camp for medical treatment or rehabilitation. Instead, they participated in a comprehensive program of activities, many of which included elements of political, specifically anti-Ukrainian, pro-Lukashenko, and pro-Kremlin re-education. These activities involved interactions with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, motorcycle clubs such as the "Night Valkyries" and "Night Wolves," officials from the Union State of Belarus and Russia, the Lukashenko regime, members of the youth organization "Belarusian Republican Youth Union," as well as other propagandists supporting the war against Ukraine and promoting anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian ideologies.
The additional evidence is accompanied by a comprehensive legal assessment of the individual criminal liability of all individuals involved in these criminal acts. It also highlights the special role and responsibility of Lukashenko as the "boss and leader” in relation to subordinates who carried out these criminal acts.
The materials provided to the ICC include the personal data of 37 Ukrainian children who were illegally transferred from Ukrainian territory, as determined by the NAM team. Overall, according to NAM, more than 3,000 Ukrainian children from over 20 temporarily occupied cities and towns in Ukraine were taken to Belarus, over 2,100 of which, including orphans, were brought to Belarus in violation of international law.
The NAM remains dedicated to searching for and identifying victims of these war crimes. We have set three primary objectives:
To work towards putting an end to the commission of crimes against Ukrainian children.
To facilitate the return of the children back to Ukraine.
To pursue the prosecution and issuance of an arrest warrant for dictator Lukashenko and his accomplices for the war crimes they have committed.
Simultaneously, the NAM team is actively seeking to bring Lukashenko and his accomplices to justice for crimes against humanity perpetrated against at least 136,000 Belarusian citizens and residents between May 2020 and May 2023. We firmly believe that there are compelling grounds for these crimes to be considered by the ICC, as far as legally possible.
Furthermore, we are focusing on the issue of criminal prosecution of representatives of the regime security apparatus who are suspected of engaging in torture. We are pursuing this avenue through universal jurisdiction in countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and others.