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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kate Connolly in Berlin

Former member of Belarus ‘hit squad’ to stand trial over disappearances

Alexander Lukashenko Belarus Switzerland Viasna
Soldiers belonging to the SOBR unit
The military unit is known as SOBR, but is informally referred to as ‘Lukashenko’s hit squad’. Photograph: SOPA Images Limited/Alamy

A former member of the Belarusian special security forces unit overseen by Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president, is to stand trial in Switzerland next month over the forced disappearance of political opponents in the 1990s.

Human rights groups said the “historic” trial was a “decisive step forward” in the fight against exemption from punishment for crimes committed in the country, which could pave the way for future prosecutions of Belarusian officials.

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