Prosecutor General's Office answers Tatsiana Reviaka concerning "normalization" of Jews by Lukashenka

Officials of the prosecution believe that the arguments of Tatsiana Reviaka are "disputable". The activist will seek an answer on the merits.

General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus has not seen fomentation of national enmity in statements of the President of Belarus during the annual address to the nation and the National Assembly. There Aliaksandr Lukashenka said that a year ago he had ordered to "put all the Jews in Belarus under control".

Human rights activist Tatsiana Reviaka appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office immediately after the address of Aliaksandr Lukashenka to the nation and the Parliament on April 29.

"I believe that singling out any national team and putting it under special control for unknown reasons is very worrying. We know from history how national groups were singled out and how it all ended. Such "normalization" ended in a gas chamber. Therefore, I am convinced that this situation should get proper legal assessment," says Tatsiana Reviaka.

According to her, the reason for the appeal were the words of Aliaksandr Lukashenka that he had asked the head of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee Siamion Shapira to take control of all the Jews in Belarus. This phrase was accompanied by a personal attack against the head of the portal tut.by Yury Ziser. Aliaksandr Lukashenka stated that the latter needed to be “normalized”.

In his appeal, the human rights activist wrote:

"I ask the Prosecutor General to carry out a prosecutor's inspection and find out under what control the head of state ordered to put this national group - Jews, due to what circumstances and for what purpose".

Tatiana Reviaka also asked to assess this statement of Aliaksandr Lukashenka in order to find out whether it contains incitement of national hatred that constitutes a criminal offense under the laws of Belarus.

"Based on the content of your appeal, there are is no information about violations of the legislation, and the arguments you have drawn are disputable”, that's the answer, given to the human rights activist by the Deputy Head of the Department for Supervision of Human Rights and Freedoms P. Yeliseyeu.

The human rights activist says that the answer was prepared unprofessionally, it does not even mention the topic which was the reason for the appeal. At present Tatsiana Reviaka, together with her colleagues-lawyers prepares to subsequent steps in order to receive the legal assessment of the words of the head of the state by the state bodies.

"The answer is absolutely not on the merits. Prosecutor General's Office states that there is no evidence of a crime, but immediately adds that this is a disputable issue. That's what I asked – discuss it professionally, that's what I have appealed for – to be given an answer, which would be the result of the discussion. Instead I am written that the “arguments are debatable”. This is an absolutely unprofessional response", commented Tatsiana Reviaka.