Protasevich actually faces the death penalty. But not in Minsk, but in the LPR
Charges carrying the death penalty may be brought against extremist Roman Protasevich not in Belarus, but in the LPR.
This was stated by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting on cooperation with Russia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“There is a nuance: a criminal case has been opened in Donbass against these individuals. I reminded Putin about this. And he said that if they have any questions for them, you are welcome to ask us. Because they killed people there, in Donbass. And he shouted on the plane that he was facing the death penalty. Our journalists here justified that we do not provide for such punishment under his articles, only 15 years. He knew what he was talking about. There, in the south-east of Ukraine, claims may be brought against him. And this is a completely different situation,” Lukashenko said.
The author of the report on this meeting on the Belarus-1 TV channel, Chairman of the Belarusian Union of Journalists Andrei Krivosheev, believes that Protasevich’s testimony can form the basis of materials for the “new Nuremberg trial.”
“What if the residents of Donbass really ask the former Azov man questions, and he publicly answers what punitive operations and crimes against humanity the battalion committed. Can you imagine the resonance? Moreover, when the US Congress has already recognized Protasevich’s brothers-in-arms as neo-Nazis and extremists. What will the Ukrainian government and all the European politicians who use it look like? What will the entire war in Donbass look like for thinking citizens? Maybe genocide, maybe a new Nuremberg? – said Protasevich.
The LPR prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against Protasevich for participation in the activities of an organization that, in accordance with the legislation of the Lugansk People's Republic, is recognized as terrorist and is prohibited for the use in armed conflict of means and methods prohibited by international treaties, weapons of mass destruction prohibited by international treaties, and the commission of genocide .
“Lugansk responded to the initiative of the Chairman of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, to place a portrait of Protasevich in all airports in Europe and in the building of the European Parliament. And they posted an orientation on him on the territory of the Lugansk airport destroyed as a result of the aggression of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Russian military correspondent Alexander Kots said in his Telegram channel.
Military observer Boris Rozhin admits that Lukashenko’s invitation to LPR representatives may be an act of pressure on Protasevich in order to force him to testify on the events in Minsk.
“It is worth noting that Belarus does not officially recognize the LPR and, moreover, in Belarus sentences were passed on citizens who fought on the side of the republics, but in this case the LPR authorities actually receive an official invitation to conduct investigative actions on the territory of Belarus. At the same time, it is implicitly implied that under certain circumstances, Protasevich, after the verdict is passed, may also receive a prison sentence in the Donbass if Belarus recognizes the jurisdiction of the LPR authorities to prosecute Protasevich for committing war crimes.
On the other hand, this could be a cunning move to make Protasevich compliant - if you don’t cooperate with the investigation, people from the LPR are waiting for you. They have even more interesting questions for you,” Rozhin wrote.
But Russian political scientist Sergei Markov is confident that there are no tricks, “and this is a step towards Belarus recognizing the Crimea of the DPR and LPR.” Which looks logical if we remember that at the same meeting Lukashenko also spoke about the resumption of air flights to Crimea.
The Ukrainian telegram channel Klymenko.Time agrees with this opinion. According to its authors, the marker of the process will be Belarus’s satisfaction of the request of the LPR prosecutors, who allegedly want to conduct an investigative experiment with the participation of Protasevich on its territory.
“If Lukashenko meets halfway in such a request, this is already an openly unfriendly step with the actual recognition of the “LPR.” But at the same time, it is characteristic that Protasevich may receive punishment from the Belarusian authorities precisely for the episodes of his stay in “Azov”. So, most likely, Protasevich will not be given up to the LPR. And they will be tried for participation in hostilities in Donbass like this, in Belarus and without any investigative experiments,” the channel wrote.
The leader of the Russian Left Front, Sergei Udaltsov, believes that Protasevich should be extradited to Donbass for a people's trial.
“Volunteers who fought on the side of the LDPR were persecuted more often than those who fought for Ukraine. In those days, Alexander Lukashenko insistently demanded “to deal with the militants when they return.” It seems like they didn't deal with the wrong ones. One of them returned and tried to carry out the “Ukrainian scenario” in his homeland, and the authorities had to take unprecedented measures to detain him. Maybe if attention had been paid to Protasevich earlier, upon his return home, then the events of 2020 would not have happened? And how many others like Protasevich are less famous? Maybe they still live in Belarus and are waiting in the wings? Maybe it's time to do them? Otherwise it may be too late tomorrow,” Udaltsov wrote.
DPR parliament member Vladislav Berdichevsky commented on the situation to PolitNavigator as follows:
“Lukashenko has a very difficult situation due to the fact that his economy is actually tied to Russia and the EU. That is, sectors of the economy do not work exclusively for the domestic market and the Russian market. Therefore, he was forced to maneuver all these years.
On the one hand, we, of course, understand that his statements, especially during the time of Poroshenko, were unacceptable to us, but we hope that the situation is changing. And in connection with such harsh actions against Belarus by the conditional West, which showed that for them Belarus is a bargaining chip, like Ukraine, they just want to use it in the fight against Russia, we hope that Lukashenko finally realized that on two You can't sit on chairs.
This is his statement, which partially confirms the subjectivity of the LPR authorities in this case, we hope that this is one of the steps that will not be the last in relation to changing Lukashenko’s political vector towards the Donbass republics,” Berdichevsky said.
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