Chairman Of Association Of Belarusians Of Switzerland: Garavski Already Secured Asylum

There is no prosecution in Switzerland for a crime committed in another country.

Chairman of the Association of Belarusians of Switzerland Aliaksandr Sapega told Radio Svaboda that Yury Garavski will not face criminal prosecution over confessing complicity in the murder of the missing politicians.

“There is no prosecution in Switzerland for a crime committed in another country,” Sapega explains. “For example, if he had confessed of having committed a criminal offense on the territory of Germany, then he would have been in prison.”

But in Switzerland, he does not face anything for it. At the moment, as far as my sources tell me, he received a positive refugee status S due to political persecution by the state. This gives him the right to even change personal data: last name, first name, birthday. SEM is considering such cases - the migration department, which is located in Bern. They examine each case individually. And, of course, the status of S, which Mr. Garavski received, is not given to everyone. That is, there must be a real reason for this.”

Aliaksandr Sapega emphasizes that months can pass from the moment the migration department makes a positive decision till the actual receipt of documents on hand.

It was no secret for Sapega that Garavski was in Switzerland. However, they have not met personally.

“As soon as I saw this video, I immediately recognized our native Swiss penates. And I have already been to this refugee center many times. I recognized the buildings, the furniture in this center, and the streets in Zurich. There were requests in my name to come and visit him. His center is perhaps 40 kilometers from Zurich. I planned to go there on a different occasion. As far as I know, right after the video was released, he very quickly disappeared from this center - the police arrived that day and took him.”

Now, according to Sapega, Yuri Garavski is in another city. But our interlocutor does not name the exact place.

According to Sapega, Garavski decided to talk about the murder of the missing politicians now because he wanted to either speed up the consideration of his case for refugee status, or to prevent his return to Belarus.

“I know a lot of people who have lived in Switzerland in the “air” status for years. They cannot be deported, and do not want to leave. And it seems to me that Garavski rolled the dice.”

Now, the former SOBR fighter cannot leave Switzerland.

“He cannot establish any contact with a representative of that state from which he asks for protection either. That is, any visit to the embassy or event where there are Belarusian officials threatens him with the loss of the refugee status.”

Sapega says that hospital documents recording the traces of beatings, court orders, and invitations to come to a conversation with the police or the KGB for unknown reasons can be considered as documents confirming threats.

“In my personal opinion, in the Garavski case there cannot be many documents that would confirm this. But Switzerland itself cannot verify this for sure. The documents that I am considering from refugees are some kind of copies, extracts, links to something. But this is very weak. If Garavski was given a positive decision, it means he had something. But this is a very rare occurrence for Belarusians.”