Ukraine's prosecutor general's office has received a request from President Volodymyr Zelensky's office to examine the possibility of opening a criminal case against Alexander Lukashenko, spokesperson Mariana Haievska-Kovbasiuk told Ukrinform.
The request is under review, and no criminal proceedings have been registered on its basis so far. The initiative came from representatives of the Forum of Democratic Forces of Belarus, a group co-founded by former Belarusian presidential candidate Valery Tsepkalo, who appealed to Zelensky's office.
The authors of the appeal proposed a legal assessment of Lukashenko's role in supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine and allowing Belarusian territory to be used for the invasion of Russian troops. The case could potentially be opened under articles covering waging an aggressive war, war crimes, financing terrorism, encroaching on Ukraine's territorial integrity, genocide, and war propaganda.
The Forum of Democratic Forces published on its Telegram channel a letter from Zelensky's office saying the appeal had been forwarded to Ukraine's prosecutor general. As Reuters notes, there is currently "no prospect" of Lukashenko appearing before a Ukrainian court, but a criminal case against him could be used by Kyiv and the Belarusian opposition as an argument for the West to continue pressuring Minsk.