{"id":4152,"date":"2023-10-09T09:43:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T06:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=longreads&p=4152"},"modified":"2023-10-09T09:48:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T06:48:31","slug":"harauski-acquitted-but-his-trial-is-a-warning-to-abusers","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/4152\/","title":{"rendered":"Hara\u016dski acquitted, but his trial is a warning to abusers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The acquittal of Juryj Hara\u016dski, a former member of the Belarusian interior ministry’s Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR), by a Swiss court has disappointed many opponents of Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka’s regime. His trial shows that serious crimes have no statute of limitations and that a government cover-up does not guarantee perpetrators all-out protection.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2019, Hara\u016dski admitted to being a member of a government-run death squad that allegedly abducted and killed high-profile opponents of the Belarusian regime in 1999. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 28, the district court of the Swiss city of Rorschach, St. Gallen, acquitted him of involvement in the disappearance of former Interior Minister Juryj Zacharanka, businessman Anatol Kraso\u016dski and opposition politician Viktar Han\u010dar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial in Switzerland took place under universal jurisdiction, which allows perpetrators to be held accountable for serious crimes committed in another country. That was the first trial of a Belarusian national suspected of committing a grave crime in Belarus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eagerly-awaited trial <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The disappearances sparked a public outcry in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2001, independent media published documents implicating officials from \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s close circle. SOBR commander D\u017amitryj Pa\u016dlichenka was suspected of leading the operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A special subcommittee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, headed by Christos Pourgourides, concluded that \u201csteps were taken at the highest level of the state to actively cover up the true background of the disappearances\u201d and that there was evidence \u201cto suspect that senior officials of the state may themselves be involved in these disappearances.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hara\u016dski admitted in 2019 to his involvement in the kidnappings and murders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2020 post-election protests and crackdown that followed have certainly eclipsed the uninvestigated disappearances. Generation Z may not be aware of murky details of the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the Belarusian pro-democracy community had high hopes for this trial. Hara\u016dski’s conviction would be a precedent for trials under universal jurisdiction for crimes committed in Belarus. It could be an incentive for Swiss prosecutors and law enforcement agencies of other countries to hold similar trials, including trials for crimes committed by Belarusian officials more recently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The verdict was important since Belarusian investigators have not established the fact of the abduction and murder. The Belarusian investigators admitted that the opposition figures had vanished, but said they did not know what had happened to them. \u0141uka\u0161enka had repeatedly claimed that the missing people had been seen in Germany and in Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with Lithuanian media in September 2009, in response to a journalist\u2019s remark that prominent politicians had disappeared and the criminals had not yet been found, \u0141uka\u0161enka said: \u201cWhy do you label someone as a criminal without a trial? You are a representative of democratic society, so you should understand that he is a criminal when a court has made a decision. Neither your court, nor ours \u2013 and it must be our court \u2013 has made such a decision.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He actually admitted that a court ruling would be of some significance even for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials\u2019 involvement beyond doubt<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Swiss judge\u2019s ruling is quite contradictory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the one hand, the judge pointed out that the Belarusian government is ultimately \u201cresponsible for the disappearances\u201d of opposition politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the trial, the prosecutor presented evidence that a special gun had been used to execute the kidnapped politicians. The murderer could obtain that weapon only from authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hara\u016dski testified that Pa\u016dli\u010denka led the operations and murdered the victims himself. In 2000, he was arrested as part of a government-ordered investigation only to be released a few days later by \u0141uka\u0161enka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian ruler described Pa\u016dli\u010denka as his main defender. In 2020, Pa\u016dli\u010denka, already a retired officer, participated in dispersals of antigovernment protests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, when Hara\u016dski first publicly talked about his involvement in the above-mentioned crimes, Belarusian officials did not even try to deny or challenge Hara\u016dski\u2019s allegations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pa\u016dli\u010denka initially confirmed that Hara\u016dski had served under his command, but later said he confused him with someone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning to those who torture political prisoners<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The verdict must have disappointed pro-democracy leaders and activists. On the one hand, their expectations were too high. On the other hand, many Belarusians do not quite understand how an independent judiciary works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusians are accustomed to guilty verdicts. In politically-motivated trials the verdict is predetermined. The judges simply rubber-stamp the conclusions of investigators and prosecutors without even trying to understand the essence of the charges. In Belarus, acquittals account for only 0.2 percent of all court rulings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Europe, courts are truly independent. A trial is a contest between the prosecutor and defense attorney, and the guilty verdict is not at all predetermined. In some European courts acquittals account for up to 40 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our case, the charges were mainly based on Hara\u016dski\u2019s testimony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Soviet judicial practice, which is still widely applied in Belarus, a confession is usually sufficient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was even the saying, \u201cConfession is the queen of evidence.\u201d It does not matter how it was obtained. When people watch forced confessions by regime opponents broadcast by state television and posted in pro-government telegram channels, they understand what methods were used to obtain them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In European justice, a confession is not enough, and hard evidence is needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the judge found Hara\u016dski\u2019s testimonies, given during the investigation and the trial, contradicted each other. In European justice, all doubts are interpreted in favor of the defendant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, the trial is important. It reminds people that serious crimes have no statute of limitations and that nothing can be concealed. This is a warning to regime servants mistreating political prisoners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The acquittal of Juryj Hara\u016dski, a former member of the Belarusian interior ministry’s Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR), by a Swiss court has disappointed many opponents of Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka’s regime. His trial shows that serious crimes have no statute of limitations and that a government cover-up does not guarantee perpetrators all-out protection.  In 2019, Hara\u016dski […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":3358,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-4152","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHara\u016dski acquitted, but his trial is a warning to abusers | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The acquittal of Juryj Hara\u016dski, a former member of the Belarusian interior ministry's Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR), by a Swiss court has\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/4152\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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