Belarus’ prosecutor decries neighbor’s reluctance to cooperate on legal matters

June 25, Pozirk. Deputy Prosecutor General Alaksiej Stuk at a press conference in Minsk criticized “unfriendly countries” for reluctance to provide legal assistance to Belarus.

These countries satisfied only 33 out of 239 requests over the past year and a half, he said at a news conference in Minsk on June 25.

“Of the 111 requests sent in the case of genocide [of Belarusians during WWII], only four have been fulfilled,” the official noted.

“To the credit of German law-enforcement officers, the four requests were fulfilled by the German side. In total, they fulfilled six of our requests,” Stuk said.

According to the deputy prosecutor general, Belarus also cooperated with Slovakia, which fulfilled both ordinary criminal requests and requests in the genocide case.

“Austria is doing a good job of fulfilling these requests [in the genocide case],” he added.

As for the other “unfriendly countries,” prosecutors have receive no response.

“Our closest neighbors, Poland and the Baltic states, practically ignore our requests. Israel and Switzerland have suspended [cooperation],” Stuk said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office have not receive any response to most requests sent to the United States, he said, noting that two dozen inquiries “were rejected for far-fetched reasons.”

He said that Belarus is doing its best to fulfill the requests of its foreign counterparts.

According to him, Minsk has satisfied all three requests by Vilnius to extradite suspected criminals.

“Two sexual crimes and one aggravated assault . . . Obviously, we don’t need these people here. Take them and deal with them,” Stuk explained.

One request is under consideration from Latvian law enforcers and one from Polish ones, he added.

Belarus’ neighbors are rejecting all requests, he said.

“Why are they holding criminals whom we are requesting under general criminal articles?” he questioned.

Belarusian officials call the countries that have imposed or joined sanctions against Belarus “unfriendly.”

They include all EU countries, the United States, Albania, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Canada, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Switzerland.

Most of these countries deny legal assistance in politically-motivated investigations as the Belarusian government continues its ruthless crackdown on dissent.

The country’s human rights defenders identified at least 1,425 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented. Opposition sources estimate the number of political prisoners at around 5,000.

Also read: Opposition council calls on EU to interfere in Serbia extradition case