{"id":149571,"date":"2025-08-04T19:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T16:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/149571\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"another-nazi-collaborators-genocide-case-goes-to-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/149571\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Nazi collaborator\u2019s genocide case goes to Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 4, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrej \u0160vied has referred a case against Osip Vinnitsky (Ukr. Osyp Wynnycky) to the Supreme Court, charging the deceased Nazi\u2019s auxiliary police company commander with genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prosecutor General\u2019s Office said Vinnitsky \u201cintentionally took the lives of at least 403 people, at least 146 children among them, including obvious minors, as well as elderly and helpless persons and pregnant women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the prosecutors, Vinnitsky commanded the first company of Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118, which carried out punitive operations in the Minsk, Viciebsk and Hrodna regions during the Nazi occupation of Soviet Belarus. After the war, he lived in Canada and could not be brought to justice despite numerous requests from the USSR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case follows the conviction in March of Siamion Sierafimovi\u010d, who was born in Mir, Belarus, and died in the UK in 1997, guilty of involvement in genocide against Belarusian people during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These cases are part of a series of trials targeting dead perpetrators of war crimes against Belarusians, following the conviction of Volodymyr Katriuk, an ethnic Ukrainian born in 1921 in the village of Luzhany, and proceedings against ethnic Pole Konstanty Smowski last year. Both were accused of involvement in Chaty\u0144 massacre in 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian government\u2019s persecution of dead Nazi war criminals is primarily politically motivated, said<\/a> Gundula Pohl, of the Institute of History in Hagen, Germany, in her article published online in January 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt reflects the state\u2019s need to legitimize its authoritarian rule and create a new basis for national identity after the brutal suppression of peaceful civil protests in the summer of 2020.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government started promoting the concept of genocide against Belarusians about four years ago, while Prosecutor General \u0160vied personally contributed content for a textbook on genocide for five-graders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka signed laws providing for the criminal prosecution of the dead and criminalizing the denial of genocide. Denial carries a penalty of five years in prison. Repeated violation of the law may lead to up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historians and analysts note that the authorities also use the genocide theme to discredit their opponents by tying their symbols to Nazi collaborators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the newly emphasized genocide campaign, the state seeks to establish a uniquely Belarusian and nationally unifying narrative. Ultimately, by focusing primarily on non-German (Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian) perpetrators, it aims to deliberately discredit the political opposition and \u201cwestern\u201d states. The concept of genocide serves as its vehicle,\u201d says Pohl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Law No. 146-Z, the term \u201cBelarusian people\u201d refers to all \u201cSoviet citizens who lived on the territory of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) during the Great Patriotic War and\/or the post-war period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis construction of the term and the isolation of the events on Belarusian soil from the rest of Nazi-occupied Soviet territory establishes the regime\u2019s exclusive claim to the memory of the war and occupation and represents a deliberate distinction from Russia\u2019s stance, despite current foreign policy alignments,\u201d the researcher says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also read: Supreme Court convicts dead Nazi criminal of genocide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 4, Pozirk. Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrej \u0160vied has referred a case against Osip Vinnitsky (Ukr. Osyp Wynnycky) to the Supreme Court, charging the deceased Nazi\u2019s auxiliary police company commander with genocide. The Prosecutor General\u2019s Office said Vinnitsky \u201cintentionally took the lives of at least 403 people, at least 146 children among them, including obvious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":63993,"template":"","rubric":[14,13],"class_list":["post-149571","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnother Nazi collaborator\u2019s genocide case goes to Supreme Court | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"August 4, Pozirk. Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrej \u0160vied has referred a case against Osip Vinnitsky (Ukr. 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