Belarusian Ex-'Hit Squad' Member Faces Trial in Switzerland

A former member of Belarus' special forces, Yury Garavsky, is set to face trial in Switzerland 24 years after three prominent opposition figures disappeared. Garavsky is charged with the forced disappearance of the three men and was arrested after confessing to being part of a unit involved in their abduction and presumed killing. Swiss authorities will determine the veracity of his claims. Garavsky has provided a detailed account of how the secret hit squad snatched the opponents of Belarus' authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, from the streets of Minsk, took them out of town, and shot them. The trial highlights the long-standing political repression in Belarus, which gained global attention with the crushing of mass opposition protests in 2020. For the families of the disappeared, this trial brings a significant moment after years of uncertainty about their fate. Two of the men's daughters, who left Belarus shortly after their fathers' abductions, hope that the trial in St Gallen will provide them with some relief. Garavsky fled to Switzerland seeking asylum in 2018 and is being tried there due to the country's participation in a United Nations convention against forced disappearance. This trial also marks the first time universal jurisdiction has been applied to a Belarusian citizen. Garavsky had previously confessed to kidnapping the three opponents and handling the murder weapon, accusing his commander Dmitry Pavlichenko of carrying out the actual killings. In 2019, investigations had linked Col Pavlichenko to the forced disappearances, implicating higher levels of the state in the cover-up. The Belarusian authorities have not responded to requests for comment from the BBC.