Appeal filed in the case of SOBR member Yury Harauski, involved in enforced disappearances
Lawyers of international human rights organizations on behalf of victims' relatives filed an appeal against the decision of the Swiss court, which acquitted the ex-fighter of the Belarusian Special Quick Reaction Unit (SOBR) Yury Harauski. In 2019, Harauski voluntarily spoke about his involvement in the kidnapping of opposition politicians: former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, former Central Electoral Commission chairman Viktar Hanchar, and businessman Anatol Krasouski.
On September 28, 2023, the Rorschach District Court, after a two-day meeting, announced a decision to acquit Yury Harauski under the article on the disappearance of people, as well as under the article on misleading justice. During the trial, the prosecutor requested three years of imprisonment for him.
Former SOBR member Yuryi Harauski acquitted in the case of disappearance of opposition politicians
The prosecutor asked for three years of imprisonment for him, but the court decided to acquit him.
Illia Nuzau, Head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Desk for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), talks about whether it is possible to overturn the decision of the court, which took place within the universal jurisdiction, and about the difficulties in collecting additional arguments:
"We filed an appeal within the prescribed period after the court of first instance provided us with a written decision indicating the grounds. The court of appeal is not limited in what it considers. The appeal can challenge everything: errors in the interpretation of the law, incomplete or incorrect assessment of the circumstances of the case and / or the illegality of the decision. Thus, we can present new evidence demonstrating the direct involvement of Yury Harauski in the disappearances.
I do not think that the trial will last long, since the original hearing, when Harauski was not found guilty, lasted only two days. Of course, there are both factual and legal points that you can pay attention to, but it should be noted that it is very difficult to find any new substantial evidence now, since a lot of time has passed."
- Illia Nuzau, Head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Desk for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
There are other conflicts in the interpretation of legislation, for example, in the Convention on Enforced Disappearances, which lawyers have drawn attention to.
"There are also doubts that the court reasonably assessed Harauski's motivation, since there were disagreements and inconsistencies in his testimony, which were first given to the prosecutor and then presented at the trial. The court concluded that Harauski did this intentionally in order to obtain political asylum. But it is surprising that a person indicated himself several times as a participant in this crime in order to obtain asylum.
We also believe that the translation of Harauski's testimony was not of high quality. Perhaps because of this, the judge had suspicions that Harauski had misled them. And this is also one of our arguments for the appeal," Illia Nuzau comments.
Illia Nuzau also considers it an important argument that the legal costs that the losing party will have to pay are worth a lot in Switzerland.
"And we are also considering this, while looking for strong arguments to demonstrate that the lower court made mistakes. This is a risk, as the amount may be several tens of thousands of euros," adds Nuzau.
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