Trial of Belarusian in St Gallen – a first for Switzerland
A former member of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s rapid intervention unit will go on trial in St Gallen in September. This trial, “historic” according to NGOs, will be the first in Switzerland under universal jurisdiction for enforced disappearance.
Yuri Harauski will appear before a criminal court on September 19-20, TRIAL International announced on Wednesday. The Geneva-based NGO, along with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Belarusian organisation Viasna, is supporting the complaints lodged by the relatives of two victims. These three institutions had also filed a complaint.
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A member of the SOBR intervention unit, the man is accused of participating in the enforced disappearances of three major political opponents in 1999: ministers Yury Zakharenka and Viktar Hanchar and businessman Anatol Krassowski.
Never before has a Belarusian national been tried for the crime of enforced disappearance under universal jurisdiction. And this offence has never been prosecuted in Switzerland using this approach.
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