On 26 October, a Swiss court found former Belarusian security service officer Yury Garavsky guilty in a case concerning the abduction of Alexander Lukashenko’s opponent, businessman Anatoly Krasovsky.
Garavsky admitted guilt in the abductions of three opponents of Belarus’s self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko, which took place more than 20 years ago.
The former security officer faces a two-year suspended sentence in Switzerland. The punishment was reduced in view of his co-operation with investigators and a full confession.
Belarusian human rights defenders said this is the first conviction abroad of a member of Belarus’s security forces.
Three years ago, a Swiss court ruled that Garavsky’s alleged role in Krasovsky’s disappearance had not been legally proven. In 2023, the businessman’s daughters appealed that decision.
This case was the first in which Swiss courts applied the principle of universal jurisdiction to consider allegations of enforced disappearance or suspected crimes committed in Belarus.
Anatoly Krasovsky was a Belarusian businessman who had been in opposition to Alexander Lukashenko since 1996. On 16 September 1999, Krasovsky was abducted in Minsk together with Viktor Gonchar. Traces of the businessman’s blood were found at the abduction site.