Юрий Гаравский. Скриншот видео DW
The appeal hearing in the case of former Belarusian SOBR officer Yury Harauski will take place at the St. Gallen Cantonal Court on Sept. 22, Novy Chas reports.
The hearing had been scheduled for June 24, but was then postponed indefinitely.
The case concerns Harauski’s alleged involvement in the forced disappearances of three Belarusian opposition politicians in 1999. The criminal complaint was filed in spring 2021 by the victims’ relatives with the support of TRIAL International, the International Federation for Human Rights and the Viasna Human Rights Centre.
In 2019, Harauski himself told journalists that he had been involved in the disappearances of former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, former Deputy Prime Minister Viktar Hanchar and businessman Anatol Krasouski. Nevertheless, in September 2023, the Rorschach District Court acquitted him. The judge found that Haravski had fabricated some of his statements and said his role in the abductions was unclear.
The daughter of one of the missing politicians, Alena Zakharanka, who is a plaintiff in the case, expressed hope that the appellate court would examine the defendant’s statements more closely. According to her, the first-instance hearing was marred by numerous translation errors.
“The defendant’s case at the first-instance court was mishandled. I heard many errors in the translation. I hope the appellate court will give the defendant and his statements the attention they deserve,” she said.