The man was accused of enforced disappearance and misleading the administration of justice. The judges saw contradictions in the statements.
More
More
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.
Certain descriptions are simply absurd, argued the presiding judge in the verdict announced orally on Thursday afternoon. The facts have not been proven. It is possible that the accused wanted to have a positive influence on his asylum decision with the dramatic descriptions.
The alleged member of a Belarusian special squad was the first person to be charged with enforced disappearance in Switzerland. At the trial last week, the public prosecutor’s office demanded a guilty verdict and a prison sentence of three years, one year of which was unconditional.
When applying for asylum in 2019, the 45-year-old defendant stated that he was involved in the murder of three opposition politicians on behalf of the regime of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
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.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
Magnitsky case: How Switzerland failed to investigate Russian millions
What do you think Switzerland’s Alain Berset can bring to the Council of Europe?
The former interior minister is to become the first Swiss Secretary General of the Council of Europe – which issues should his five-year term focus on?
UBS to be closely monitored by the Swiss price watchdog in future
This content was published on
Following the merger of UBS and Credit Suisse, the price watchdog wants to take a closer look at the only remaining major Swiss bank.
Majority of Swiss do not support an increase in defence spending
This content was published on
According to an international poll, 54% of Swiss residents are opposed to more funding for defence, despite the war in Ukraine.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
‘Lukashenko hitman’ denies charges in Swiss court
This content was published on
On the second day of a Swiss trial against a media self-confessed Belarusian state assassin, the defendant pleaded innocent.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.