FILE - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on May 8, 2024. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Photo via AP, File)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Lithuania on Monday referred the hard-line president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, and members of his government to the International Criminal Court, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity by forcing their own people to flee the country.

Opposition groups in Belarus have faced a severe crackdown since nationwide protests erupted in 2020 after disputed election results gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the country and opposition leaders were either forced into exile or sent to prison.

In its referral to the ICC, Lithuania said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Lukashenko’s government has been involved in “deportation, persecution and other inhumane acts” against Belarus civilians.

It said the Belarus government “has forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of lawful residents of Belarus to the territories of neighboring Lithuania,” and other countries that are signatories to the court.

The Lithuanian government asserted that the goal of the Belarus government was “to rid itself, by any means, of all critics and opponents in order to consolidate the regime’s authoritarian hold on power. All direct perpetrators, their commanders and superiors were clearly aware of the attack.”

Lithuania said this “amounts to a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population.”

As Lukashenko seeks a seventh term next year to extend his three-decade rule, opposition leaders in exile say he is ramping up the pressure on Belarusians who moved abroad. The aim, they say, is to quash any opposition support from overseas.

Months of major demonstrations over the widely denounced balloting in 2020 saw more than 65,000 people arrested over the last four years, with many of them severely beaten, according to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has been living in Lithuania, described the ICC referral as “a monumental step towards justice for Belarus.”

“The crimes committed by this regime, from forced deportations to illegal arrests and torture, cannot go unpunished. Lithuania’s courage gives us hope that the world is finally holding the regime accountable for his atrocities,” she said in a statement.

Tsikhanouskaya said she and her supporters will gather on Tuesday at the Lithuanian Embassy in The Hague, where the ICC is based. She called on other countries to join Lithuania in holding the Belarus authorities to account.

“This is not just about Belarus — it is about justice for all who value democratic peace,” she said.

Her husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, is among several prominent imprisoned Belarus opposition figures whom relatives say have not been heard from in a year or more.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024