Over 17,000 people interviewed as part of criminal case into genocide of Belarusian people

As part of the investigation of the criminal case into the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, the Prosecutor's General Office interviewed more than 17,000 people, Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrei Shved said on the air of the ONT TV channel on 7 May, BelTA has learned.

"We interviewed all living witnesses, and this is almost 17,000 people - prisoners of concentration camps, those who were taken to Germany and other countries for slave labor. All interviews have been videotaped. We will inspect all places of mass destruction. I think this work will be completed in the next five to seven years. We will publish the information about every death camp. We have established that there were more than 580 of them on the territory of the BSSR. At least 3 million people died on the territory of our country, and this is confirmed both by documents and by many other sources,” Andrei Shved said.

The Prosecutor General's Office has sent inquiries to many countries. "We received responses from many countries: Brazil, Argentina, the post-Soviet countries. Even the Prosecutor General of Germany answered. He sent a fairly detailed letter of repentance. But times are changing, and we treat these repentance statements differently today. The living SS men who live in a number of neighboring states will not be extradited to us. They replied in writing that it was not in their national interest. They are harboring the Nazis. In legal terms, they, in fact, confirm that Nazism is part of their ideology," he stressed.

The Prosecutor General recalled that work is underway on a bill, according to which, if adopted and approved by the Belarusian president, Belarus will hold trials in absentia against the already deceased executioners.