{"id":166481,"date":"2025-12-02T13:46:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166481\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"case-of-sixth-deceased-ww2-criminal-sent-to-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/166481\/","title":{"rendered":"Case of sixth deceased WW2 criminal sent to Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n \"\"\n
\n \n
\n (Tingey Injury Law Firm \/ unsplash.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

December 2, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrej \u0160vied has forwarded a case against Hans Siegling to the Supreme Court, charging the dead member of the SS and security police with genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The German-born Siegling, who died in 1978, had headed an auxiliary police brigade in the occupied territories of Belarus during the Second World War. He organized punitive operations and was responsible for the destruction of 11 villages and the murder of more than 1,700 people, including 238 children, according to the case files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case is a part of a series of trials targeting dead perpetrators of war crimes against Belarusians, following the conviction of Volodymyr Katriuk, an ethnic Ukrainian born in 1921 in the village of Luzhany, and proceedings against ethnic Pole Konstanty Smowski. Both were accused of involvement in Chaty\u0144 massacre in 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian government\u2019s persecution of dead Nazi war criminals is primarily politically motivated, said<\/a> Gundula Pohl, of the Institute of History in Hagen, Germany, in her article published earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt reflects the state\u2019s need to legitimize its authoritarian rule and create a new basis for national identity after the brutal suppression of peaceful civil protests in the summer of 2020,\u201d the researcher noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government started promoting the concept of genocide against Belarusians about four years ago, while Prosecutor General \u0160vied personally contributed content for a textbook on genocide for five-graders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka signed laws providing for the criminal prosecution of the dead and criminalizing the denial of genocide. Denial carries a penalty of five years in prison. Repeated violation of the law may lead to up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historians and analysts note that the authorities also use the genocide theme to discredit their opponents by tying their symbols to Nazi collaborators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n
\n \"\"
\n

Supreme Court convicts another dead Nazi criminal of genocide<\/h3>\n
November 20, Pozirk. The Belarusian Supreme Court has found dead Nazi collaborator Alexander Yermolchik guilty of genocide, the Prosecutor General's Office reports. The man who had headed an auxiliary police unit during the Nazi occupation was accused of murdering at …<\/div>\n \n