More than 30 years ago, Belarus ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture. The Convention imposes responsibility on its signatories when it comes to prohibition of tortures and other acts of cruel or inhuman treatment. Yet today, however, the main question arises about possibilities and challenges in delivering justice to victims of the alleged crimes affecting the communis juris, is delicta juris gentium (a “crime against the law of nations”) committed in Belarus where the State authorities declared impunity towards perpetrators.
Dr. Liudmila Ulyashyna and Assoc. Prof. Jolanta Bieliauskaitė of the Social Sciences Department took part in the Forum on behalf of EHU. Among other speakers of the event were:
- Prof. Dainius Žalimas (President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania; Professor of International law at Mykolas Romeris University)
- Pavel Sapelko (human rights organization “Viasna”)
- Viktoria Fedorova (researcher at the Belarusian State University; director of the NGO “Legal Initiative”)
- Prof. Mykola Gnatovskyy (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv)
- Prof. Justinas Žilinskas (Mykolas Romeris University)
- Prof. Kai Ambos (Judge Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the Hague; Professor at the University of Gottingen)
- Prof. Emeritus Eric David (Université libre de Bruxelles)
- Prof. Andrius Nevera (Mykolas Romeris University)
- Andrius Kubilius (Member of the European Parliament, Chair of EHU Governing Board)
- Jakob Wöllenstein (Belarus Country Director, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung)
Among the questions, discussed by participants of the webinar were whether it is possible to apply the principle of universal jurisdiction de facto and bring perpetrators to justice by foreign judges on foreign ground? Is it possible to deliver justice in absence of perpetrators while a case is filed in a European Union Member State?
The full version of the webinar is available below: