Former Belarusian security official Yuri Harauski is due before a Swiss court on Tuesday as prosecutors and victims’ families appeal his 2023 acquittal over the alleged forced disappearance of three opposition figures.
Harauski was acquitted by a Swiss court in 2023 over the 1999 disappearance of former Interior Minister Yuri Zakharenko, former deputy prime minister Viktor Gonchar and businessman Anatoly Krosovsky. He was serving in Belarus’s special police unit SOBR under President Alexander Lukashenko at the time.
The appeal, being heard by a cantonal court in St. Gallen, was brought by the daughters of two of the missing men with support from human rights groups Trial International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Viasna.
Harauski, who sought asylum in Switzerland, admitted taking part in the men’s detention but denied ordering or carrying out their killings. The court previously found that his role could not be established beyond reasonable doubt because of conflicting statements he had made.
The 2023 case was the first time a Swiss court examined alleged crimes committed in Belarus under universal jurisdiction. Belarusian authorities have denied accusations concerning their human rights record and reject claims that they hold political prisoners.
If convicted, Harauski could face up to 20 years in prison, Switzerland’s maximum fixed term sentence.
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