By the end of this year the Belarusian courts will begin to consider in absentia criminal cases against living and deceased persons involved in the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War, said General Prosecutor Andrei Shved at a meeting with students and professors of the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics on Tuesday.

"I think at the end of this year we will start trials in absentia in Belarusian courts against not only the executioners who are still alive, but also the dead," said the prosecutor general, whose words are quoted by the department's Telegram channel.

In April 2021, the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus initiated a criminal case on the genocide of the Belarusian population during the Great Patriotic War. The department raised the issue of extraditing criminals who are still alive within the framework of international treaties and has already requested legal assistance from Russia, Germany and other countries to investigate the case. A number of countries have rejected Minsk's request for such assistance. Earlier, Belarus reported that more than 400 fascists, associated with the genocide of the Belarusian people during the war, are still alive. About 16 thousand people were questioned as part of a criminal investigation.

Minsk estimated the minimal material damage caused to Belarus during the Great Patriotic War by the Nazi Germany at at least $2.3 trillion.