{"id":178062,"date":"2026-03-04T16:44:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/178062\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"belarus-to-put-another-suspected-dead-nazi-war-criminal-on-trial","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/178062\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus to put another suspected dead Nazi war criminal on trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

March 4, Pozirk.<\/em> <\/strong>Belarus\u2019 Supreme Court is to put another dead man on trial on March 18 on charges of genocide in connection with alleged involvement in atrocities during the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prosecutor General\u2019s Office accuses Antanas Gecevi\u010dius, a Lithuanian-born platoon commander with the 12th<\/sup> Security Battalion, of murdering at least 6,000 people, including 31 children, \u201cacting on his own or giving orders to subordinates, by shooting, hanging and burying alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case files comprise 17 volumes and involve eight witnesses, the Supreme Court said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antanas Gecevi\u010dius was born in the Jokuliai village, Garg\u017edai rural municipality, Kretinga district, in 1916 and died in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was accused of mass murders of Jews in Lithuania and Belarus when he was still alive. In March 2001, the British authorities moved to extradite him to Lithuania as a war criminal but in August 2001 reversed their decision because of the defendant’s failing health.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Belarus\u2019 seventh genocide case against suspected dead Nazi war criminals since 2024, and the first case under new Prosecutor General D\u017amitryj Hora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian government\u2019s persecution of dead Nazi war criminals is primarily politically motivated, suggested 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

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