MINSK. Sept 8 (Interfax) - The Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office has received a reply from Latvia denying legal assistance as part of a genocide case, the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office said on its website on Wednesday.
"The Prosecutor General's Office of the Latvian Republic, groundlessly citing Article 17 of the February 21, 1994 Treaty between the Republic of Belarus and the Latvian Republic on legal assistance and legal relations in civil, family, and criminal cases, refused to grant a request from the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Belarus seeking legal assistance in a criminal case opened into the genocide against the population of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War and in the post-war years," it said.
The Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office notified the relevant Latvian agency in June 2021 that "the investigation into this case is aimed at establishing facts of the involvement of Nazi forces and their accomplices from the Latvian SS legions in the extermination of the population of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic throughout the period of the republic's occupation."
The Latvian side was also informed that some 400 former Latvian SS legion members who were involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II live in Latvia and outside it, Belarusian prosecutors said.
"The motion was also accompanied by a list containing the first and last names of 22 former members of the Latvian SS legion, the 15th Latvian Waffen-SS division and the 24th Territorial Rifle Corps. However, instead of helping expose these war criminals, the Latvian authorities responded to our request to launch legal proceedings against former Latvian SS legion members involved in punitive operations to exterminate the civilian population of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic by saying that "the execution of this request would inevitably harm the sovereignty of the Latvian Republic, would jeopardize its citizens' rights and would pose risks to Latvia's state security," the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office said.
"It is common knowledge that representatives of Latvian state authorities do not conceal their ties with Nazi criminals," it said.
"For instance, this country's Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics during his official visit to Canada spoke to members of the Canadian unit of the Daugava Hawks organization [established by Latvian SS veterans], as well as to former legion member Laimonds Ozols. Such position of Latvia's political elite points to its blatant aiding and abetting in sheltering war criminals, to its outright rejection of the value of human life, its reluctance to follow the principle of the unavoidability of punishment, and its disregard for international obligations," it said.
As reported, a criminal case has been opened in Belarus over Belarusian genocide committed during WWII "through mass murder, destruction of populated localities together with their residents, forced deportation for labor purposes, and opening of prison camps and death camps." These criminal proceedings aim to establish the real damage caused by war crimes and to take measures towards compensation.
A group of historians specializing in the WWII period and modern history is assisting in the criminal investigation. Archived documents are being studied.
Once the criminal investigation is over, the Belarusian Prosecutor General's Office plans to appeal to international organizations for the international recognition of Belarusian genocide and to seek the extradition of certain criminals who are still alive within the framework of international treaties.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, there were more than 400 prison camps, 260 death camps and 170 ghettos in the Belarusian territory in the WWII years, and at least 1.5 million people were killed there. The current information indicates that Belarusian civilian casualties neared 3 million, or about a third of the entire population, over the years of occupation by Nazi Germany.