It is important to develop a legal mechanism for the international recognition of the genocide of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War needs, Belarus’ Prosecutor General Andrei Shved told journalists ahead of the international conference to mark the 77th anniversary of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, BelTA has learned.

“We will discuss legal mechanisms. It is extremely important to secure international recognition of the genocide of the Belarusian people and the Soviet people as a whole. The time has come to return to the documents that were adopted after the Great Patriotic War, the materials of the Nuremberg Trials, and once again tell the world that the genocidal policies and genocidal operations are unacceptable. It is the cruelest manifestation in human history,” Andrei Shved said.

According to him, the possibilities for presenting financial claims to the countries responsible will be discussed too. The Belarusian government commission has established that the damage caused by Nazi Germany and its collaborators in the occupied territory of the BSSR amounts to no less than $2.3 trillion.

When asked by BelTA about specific mechanisms for the international recognition of the wartime genocide of the Soviet people, the prosecutor general emphasized the need for joint efforts. According to him, it is important to “unite together on platforms such as the United Nations and other international institutions to ultimately seek the adoption, as we believe, of a new, modern, and adjusted convention on the prevention of genocide.”

belta.by