Europe’s “last dictator” Alexander Lukashenko and his henchmen today faced a growing threat of being brought to justice for human rights abuses after Britain joined an international effort to gather evidence of such crimes.
The UK has allocated £430,000 to the International Accountability Platform (IAP), which will collect and store evidence of human rights violations and torture in Belarus which could later be used in criminal proceedings.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said “The UK stands in solidarity with the victims of systematic human rights violations in Belarus and is committed to ensuring those responsible are held to account.
“This independent initiative, free from political interference, will help defend democracy, media freedom and human rights. It will help the Belarusian people take a vital step further towards securing justice.”
The Foreign Office stressed that the IAP is a joint initiative led by a coalition of non-governmental organisations.
Victims of human rights abuse in Belarus will be able to contact the platform via its webpage to submit testimony, information and documents which will be confidentially processed and stored, it added.
The platform will be located at DIGNITY’s headquarters in Copenhagen and managed by human rights experts, lawyers, doctors and IT security experts.
The initiative is being backed by Britain, Germany, Denmark and other countries and aims to hold the regime of Lukashenko, who has been dubbed “Europe’s last dictator”, to account for “systematic human rights violations”.
The UK and EU have branded as “rigged” presidential elections in August last year which saw Lukashenko stay in power, a post he has held since it was created in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
