On February 2, 2025, iSANS sent a submission «The application of the universal jurisdiction principle in respect of cases from Belarus» to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. The text of the submission is posted on the Working Group’s webpage.
This information is submitted in response to the call for inputs for a research by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on the use of universal criminal jurisdiction in cases of enforced disappearance.1 Our organisation, International Strategic Action Network for Security (iSANS), focuses in its documentation, research and advocacy work primarily on the situation in Belarus and the region of Eastern and Central Europe. In 2023, we conducted research into challenges to the effective application of the universal jurisdiction principle in cases of international crimes committed in Belarus by studying the situation in four European states (Lithuania, Germany, Poland, and Czechia) where lawsuits from victims from Belarus have been submitted. We also looked into a court case in Switzerland. In the course of the research, we identified several major problems in this area and developed 12 concrete recommendations.
In the present submission we provide a brief overview of the current situation with enforced disappearances in Belarus, refer to key findings of our research, and provide an update on the progress in the application of the universal jurisdiction to cases from Belarus. The cases covered in our research included torture and other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment allegedly committed by the police and personnel of penitentiary institutions in Belarus in response to mass protests in summer and autumn 2020. None of the cases covered in the research included enforced disappearances. To the best of our knowledge, no complaints regarding recent or the ongoing cases of enforced disappearances in Belarus (prolonged incommunicado detention in prison) have been filed to law enforcement bodies in other states. Therefore, this submission does not cover information on the application of the universal jurisdiction principle in cases of enforced disappearances as requested in the questionnaire distributed by the WGEID. However, we believe that information we possess may be useful for WGEID research as our findings regarding general challenges in the application of the universal jurisdiction would likely have impact on possible investigation into cases of enforced disappearances, should such complaints be submitted.
You can download this text from the link.
Материал доступен на русском языке: Применение принципа универсальной юрисдикции в отношении дел из Беларуси
