Switzerland: Court Finds Ex-Belarus Officer Responsible for Enforced Disappearance, UN Experts Welcome Judgment
UN experts welcomed on October 30 a Swiss court judgment finding Yurii Harauski, a former member of the Belarusian special police unit SOBR, criminally responsible for the enforced disappearance of Anatol Krasouski, one of three Belarusian opposition figures forcibly disappeared in 1999.
The appeal judgment by the Cantonal Court of St. Gallen partially overturns Harauski's 2023 acquittal and imposed a two-year suspended prison sentence for the disappearance of Krasouski, in proceedings the experts called a landmark test of universal jurisdiction in enforced disappearance cases.
Harauski confessed to kidnapping Yury Zakharanka in May 1999 and Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski in September of the same year; all three were reportedly killed after their abduction, though their remains have not been located or identified. All three cases remain outstanding before the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
The experts said the judgment shows such crimes cannot remain beyond the reach of justice merely because they were committed many years ago, and that where justice is unavailable in the country where violations occurred, universal jurisdiction can provide an essential avenue for accountability. They urged Belarus to investigate the disappearances and bring those responsible to justice.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：瑞士圣加仑老城街景，Marek Ślusarczyk 摄，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 3.0 授权 / Photo: old town of St. Gallen, Switzerland, by Marek Ślusarczyk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
