Some states initiate criminal proceedings and pre-trial investigations on torture and other human rights violations in Belarus. The move to prosecute the responsible Belarusian actors rests on the principle of universal jurisdiction – a rule that allows or requires states to initiate criminal proceedings in respect of certain crimes, irrespective of the location of the crime or the nationality of the perpetrator or the victim. In the context of torture, the rule stems from the obligations of states under the International Convention against Torture 1984 that demands states to investigate torture committed by its citizens against its citizens or in case an offender is in the territory of that state.
The Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office has already opened a pre-trial investigation into crimes against humanity committed by Belarusian police against Belarusian citizen Maxim Khoroshin. The President of the Lithuanian Constitutional Court, Dainius Žalimas, described the potential of the principle in respect to the situation in Belarus in the following way:
“The conditions must not be created for avoiding punishment for international crimes, including those currently committed in Belarus. I mean crimes against humanity, i.e. mass torture and mass persecution for political reasons against the Belarusian people who defend the rule of law and democracy. Universal jurisdiction is based on mandatory international legal norms defining international crimes as crimes against the entire international community and, thus, against the whole of humanity. Liability for them arises irrespective of whether the law of the state in which the crimes are committed provides for relevant criminal liability. The international community has assumed the obligation to persecute the persons who commit these crimes. Therefore, universal jurisdiction can be a viable and effective instrument to prevent impunity, as well as an instrument for the prevention of international crimes.”
Other universal jurisdiction criminal cases have been initiated in Poland regarding the facts of detention and torture of the citizens of Poland in Belarus. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s Cabinet in its Telegram channel stated that there are 10 universal jurisdiction cases ready for submission in Poland and 10 in Czech Republic. With the continuous human rights violations in Belarus, it is likely that more proceedings will follow.
There are famous examples of the effective use of universal jurisdiction. Some notable cases of its application include the prosecutions of Eichmann in Israel, Pinochet in the United Kingdom and Spain, Taylor in the United States, followed by the recent cases of prosecution of war criminals from Rwanda, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, and other conflict-affected areas. The willingness to attempt applying the principles to stop human rights abuses in Belarus shows the commitment of other countries to uphold international justice in the situation, when other international criminal institutions, like the International Criminal Court, are inaccessible to Belarus.