The investigation of the criminal case on the genocide of the population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War continues

In April 2021, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Belarus initiated a criminal case regarding the genocide of the population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period.

The decision was based on information about the deaths of millions of Belarusians and other individuals due to the atrocities committed by German occupiers and their accomplices.

The criminal proceedings initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office to investigate the facts of genocide are aimed at identifying specific individuals among the German invaders and their accomplices who evaded responsibility for the murder of civilians, torture, and suffering in concentration camps and ghettos, and mass deportation of the civilian population into German slavery.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Verkhnedvinsk district (then the Drissa and Osvei districts) suffered significantly, with a large portion of the population destroyed and numerous villages burned down, which were never rebuilt.

In February-March 1943, the punitive operation "Winter Magic" was carried out in the Drissa and Osvei districts, involving Latvian battalions that exterminated the civilian population and burned down settlements.

The purpose of this punitive operation was to create a "clean" 40-kilometer zone free from partisan and underground fighters.

The aforementioned operation was conducted on the territory of the modern Verkhnedvinsk and Rossonsky districts, and the Sebezhsky district of the Russian Federation.

In the course of investigating the criminal case of genocide of the population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War, the Verkhnedvinsk District Prosecutor's Office interviewed victims who were in concentration camps, witnesses, conducted inspections of incident sites (military graves, monuments of the Great Patriotic War), studied archival materials, and identified the names of settlements that were burned down and not restored.

Currently, the investigation of the criminal case of genocide of the population of Belarus is ongoing, with new, previously unknown burial sites of Red Army soldiers, the names of punitive soldiers, and the economic damage caused to the region by the genocide being identified.

Information from the criminal case will allow for raising the issue with international organizations regarding the recognition of Belarus as a victim of genocide and to thwart attempts to devalue historical truth.

Deputy Prosecutor

of Verkhnedvinsk District

Junior Justice Counselor

M.V. Lavdansky