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‘Lukashenko hitman’ denies charges in Swiss court

The defendant arrives at court
The alleged Belarus hitman arrives at court in St Gallen. © Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

On the second day of the trial against a former member of a Belarusian special unit, the defendant's attorney pleaded innocent. The defendant is accused of involvement in murders against opponents of the Lukashenko regime.

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Belarus protest for the missing

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Swiss court to judge Lukashenko hitman  

This content was published on Yuri Harauski goes on trial in a Swiss regional court on September 19 for the enforced disappearances of three opposition figures in 1999.

Read more: Swiss court to judge Lukashenko hitman  

The defence attorney at the court in St Gallen explained that the crime of enforced disappearance was not fulfilled despite the confession. The trial revolves around the question of whether the defendant’s statements are credible or whether he made them in order to receive a positive asylum decision.

When applying for asylum, the man stated that he was involved in the murder of three opposition politicians in Belarus in 1999.

For the first time, a domestic court is hearing a case brought by the Swiss state on enforced disappearance, which has been enshrined in the Swiss Criminal Code since 2017.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

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