{"id":3121,"date":"2023-09-28T19:46:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T16:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=3121"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"former-sobr-fighter-acquitted-by-swiss-court-in-death-squad-case","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/3121\/","title":{"rendered":"Former SOBR fighter acquitted by Swiss court in death squad case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>September 28,\u00a0<em>Pozirk.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>A court in Switzerland has acquitted Juryj Hara\u016dski, the former fighter of the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) who admitted to being a member of a death squad,\u00a0<em>DW Belarus<\/em>\u00a0reported today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;judge said that this case was special because it involved authorities responsible for violent crimes. These facts should not be in doubt, but the defendant did not stick to his story and evaded answering questions, he added. In his opinion, Hara\u016dski made up&nbsp;part of his testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judge&nbsp;has concluded that the ex-SOBR member might&nbsp;have been involved in crimes but his role remains unidentified. According to the judge, he may have recounted stories&nbsp;that he heard from his colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Novy \u010cas<\/em>&nbsp;reported that Hara\u016dski was found not guilty of misleading justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swiss law did not allow prosecutors to charge the former police officer with more serious crimes, such as murder or complicity in murder, because they were allegedly committed in Belarus, so he was instead charged with enforced disappearance, according to the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The daughters of disappeared opponents of the \u0141uka\u0161enka regime, Alena Zacharanka and Valeryja Kraso\u016dskaja, reportedly filed a civil lawsuit seeking 200,000 Swiss francs from Hara\u016dski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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<p>He has been on trial since September 19, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He&nbsp;apologized to the family members and friends of his alleged victims. He said that he hoped for &#8220;fair punishment,&#8221; noting that a harsh sentence could discourage confessions about the Belarusian authorities&#8217; crimes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>September 28,\u00a0Pozirk.\u00a0A court in Switzerland has acquitted Juryj Hara\u016dski, the former fighter of the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) who admitted to being a member of a death squad,\u00a0DW Belarus\u00a0reported today. The&nbsp;judge said that this case was special because it involved authorities responsible for violent crimes. These facts should not be in doubt, but the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16,30,15],"class_list":["post-3121","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","rubric-politics","rubric-security","rubric-society"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former SOBR fighter acquitted by Swiss court in death squad case | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"September 28,\u00a0Pozirk.\u00a0A court in Switzerland has acquitted Juryj Hara\u016dski, the former fighter of the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) who admitted to\" \/>\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\/3121\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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