Ukrainian prosecutor’s office receives request to initiate case against Lukashenko

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has received an application from the President of the country on the possibility of instituting a case against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, which is currently being considered, the press service of the Prosecutor General told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian service; no criminal proceedings have been initiated so far.

On July 28, the Conference of Democratic Forces of Belarus announced that the Ukrainian presidential administration had received an application from the Belarusian opposition with a request to instigate a criminal case against Lukashenko in connection with his support for the war in Ukraine and the use of Belarusian territories for Russian attacks.

The authors of the application proposed to charge the Belarusian president with the articles of waging an aggressive war, war crimes, financing terrorism, encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, genocide and war propaganda.

Reuters notes that there is currently “no prospect” that Lukashenko will face a Ukrainian court, but the possible criminal case against him could be used by Kiev and the Belarusian opposition as an “argument for the West” to continue pressure on Minsk.