All-Belarusian minute of silence and presentation of a book on war crimes against the peoples of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. Prosecutor General Andrei Shved took part in the events

The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Shved took part in the events dedicated to the Day of National Remembrance of the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the genocide of the Belarusian people and the Day of Memory and Sorrow at the Memorial Complex "Brest Hero Fortress".

The All-Belarusian minute of silence was held on the Ceremonials Square. The Prosecutor General, together with the prosecutor of the Brest region Viktor Klimov and employees of the oversight agency, paid tribute to the memory of those who died during the war years and laid flowers at the Eternal Flame.

After the laying ceremony, the Prosecutor General took part in the presentation of the book “No statute of limitations… the crimes of fascism against the peoples of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”

The event, organized by the Standing Committee of the Union State, was attended by State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev, Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin, heads of other departments, representatives of executive authorities, scientific community of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation.

The book was published as part of the large-scale publishing project “Library of the Union State”. This project is designed to provide a wide audience with publications dedicated to the remarkable pages of the history of Belarus and Russia, reliable materials about the heroic past of our peoples, culture, traditions, about the “bonds” binding Belarusians and Russians.

It is especially significant that the book “Genocide of the Belarusian people. Death Camps”, published under the general editorship of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Shved, has become part of the edition.

Speaking at the presentation, Andrei Shved noted the symbolism of the publication of a book about war crimes against the peoples of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War on such an important day for every citizen of Belarus and Russia.

“The Republic of Belarus has repeatedly become the scene of fierce battles. The most bloody was the Great Patriotic War, the victory in which was achieved at the cost of great losses and suffering of the Soviet people. The remains of millions of people who died not only on the battlefields, but also killed in cold blood from genocide of the civilian population are buried in the Belarusian soil. The memory of the heroic feat of the victorious people, the innocent victims of that war has become part of the cultural, spiritual and historical code of the Belarusians,” Andrei Shved said.

The Prosecutor General emphasized that the new version of the Constitution of our country enshrines the provision ensuring the preservation by the State of the historical truth and memory of the heroic deed of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Belarus is investigating a criminal case on genocide of the Belarusian people.

“It should be noted that this is not a standard investigation. The issues of criminal law, historical and moral assessment of the actions of the Nazi invaders, their accomplices and collaborators are intertwined in it. For the first time, the facts of genocide of the civilian population are being investigated on such a scale,” Andrei Shved said.

He said that during the years of Nazi occupation, at least 3 million civilians and prisoners of war, or every third inhabitant of Belarus, were killed on the territory of Belarus. About 380 thousand people were driven into German slavery, many of whom died from unbearable conditions of exploitation. The kidnapping of children for forced labor was also widespread.

“Our country was turned by the Nazis into a conveyor belt of death. In practice, the people of Belarus were faced with the choice of the possibility of their existence. During the war, the invaders destroyed more than 200 cities, including such large ones as Minsk, Gomel, Vitebsk, Polotsk, Orsha, Borisov, Slutsk. More than 11.7 thousand of our villages and settlements have been partially or completely destroyed. Information about more than 2.5 thousand of them were established due to the painstaking work of prosecutors, investigators, and experts. We identified 84 more villages that shared the tragic fate of Khatyn,” the Prosecutor General spoke about the new details of the investigation into the criminal case on genocide.

“Unfortunately, some countries began to forget about the war crimes of the Nazis. Before our very eyes, monuments to soldiers-liberators are being demolished and destroyed in neighboring countries, the graves of Soviet soldiers are being desecrated, paramilitary organizations are openly using Nazi symbols. It is in these countries that extreme nationalism and neo-Nazism are professed, marches of former SS-men are officially held, and certain categories of the population are restricted in their rights on a national basis. Attempts are being made to justify the accomplices of the Nazis, presenting them as alleged freedom fighters. All these are attempts to rewrite history and cross out the feat of the Soviet people,” said the head of the Belarusian supervisory agency, stressing that the publication of this book is a tribute to the memory of the dead, and contributes to the establishment and preservation of historical truth.

Dmitry Mezentsev thanked Andrei Shved and the team he leads for the work done to investigate Nazi crimes and preserve historical truth and memory.

After the presentation of the book, the participants of the event exchanged views and discussed topical issues of protecting our common history.

Photo: sb.by, Zarya newspaper

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