{"id":2552,"date":"2023-09-20T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&p=2552"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"swiss-court-to-deliver-verdict-in-trial-of-ex-member-of-death-squad-next-week","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/2552\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiss court to deliver verdict in trial of ex-member of death squad next week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September 20,\u00a0Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0Juryj Hara\u016dski, a former member of the Belarusian interior ministry’s Special Rapid Response Unit, has apologized to the family members and friends of his victims, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His trial opened in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on September 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hara\u016dski said he hoped for a “fair punishment,” noting that a harsh sentence may discourage confessions about the Belarusian authorities’ crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prosecutor has asked a one-year prison term and additional two years’ suspended sentence on charges of enforced disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, media reported that Hara\u016dski admitted to being a member of a government-run death squad that allegedly abducted and killed former Interior Minister Juryj Zacharanka, businessman Anatol Kraso\u016dski and opposition politician Viktar Han\u010dar in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hara\u016dski has been living in Switzerland since October 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zacharanka, Kraso\u016dski and Han\u010dar disappeared between May and December 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The families of the victims made numerous attempts to obtain information on the whereabouts of their relatives. However, law enforcement agencies in Belarus refused to prosecute perpetrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2001, Christos Pourgourides, rapporteur of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, unveiled the findings of his investigation in a report titled \u201cDisappeared Persons in Belarus.\u201d He concluded that \u201csteps were taken at the highest level of the state to actively cover up the true background of the disappearances,\u201d noting that he had been provided with evidence \u201cto suspect that senior officials of the state may themselves be involved in these disappearances.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 20,\u00a0Pozirk.\u00a0Juryj Hara\u016dski, a former member of the Belarusian interior ministry’s Special Rapid Response Unit, has apologized to the family members and friends of his victims, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports. His trial opened in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on September 19. Hara\u016dski said he hoped for a “fair punishment,” noting that a harsh sentence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[14],"class_list":["post-2552","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSwiss court to deliver verdict in trial of ex-member of death squad next week | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"September 20,\u00a0Pozirk.\u00a0Juryj Hara\u016dski, a former member of the Belarusian interior ministry's Special Rapid Response Unit, has apologized to the family\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/2552\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Swiss court to deliver verdict in trial of ex-member of death 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