The Forest brothers in the Soviet-occupied Baltic States

ENIllegal aggression, occupation, repression of the inhabitants of occupied territory, forced deportation and mobilisation into the armed forces of the occupying State – these keywords in Europe today relate primarily to the events of the past year in the Russian Federation-occupied territories in Ukraine. At the same time, they describe what happened in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania some 80 years ago. Unlike Ukraine, in 1940 the governments of the Baltic States decided to capitulate without offering any armed resistance to the occupying forces. However, reconciliation with occupation, the destruction of these States and terror by foreign authorities were unacceptable to a large part of the population. Therefore, the overwhelming security forces of the Soviet Union were met with spontaneous resistance by guerillas called the Forest Brothers. This article analyses the confrontation between the Forest Brothers and the Soviet Union from the perspective of international law. It outlines the nature of this confrontation and ideologies of the parties involved in the conflict. Next, it establishes the international law of war in force at the time and based on that makes an attempt to qualify the legal status of the Forest Brothers. This enables an understanding of the specific rights and obligations of the Forest Brothers in this armed conflict. Keywords: Soviet occupation; Forest Brothers; partisan warfare; anti-partisan warfare; international war law; international criminal law. [From the publication]

• Legal status of Lithuania's Armed Resistance to the Soviet occupation in the context of state continuity. Baltic yearbook of international law. 2011, Vol. 11, p. 67-112.
• Status of members of Anti-Soviet Armed Resistance (Partisans' war) of 1944-1953 in Lithuania under international law. Baltic yearbook of international law. 2011, Vol. 11, p. 31-65.