may receive a reprieve from the Swiss government.

Local Amnesty International member Brian Horsfield said he has met Gopinath Chandrasegaram twice in Switzerland where the teen is back with his parents and sister.

Dr. Horsfield said education and employment opportunities for Chandrasegaram were one of his main reasons for his dangerous attempt to get to Canada.

"His legal status seems to have eased in Switzerland,'' Dr. Horsefield said last week. "Gopi has sorted himself out and is happy with Amnesty International Bermuda for helping his situation.'' Dr. Horsefield said Chandrasegaram speaks fluent German and has many friends in his adopted homeland.

"I called him and he picked me up,'' he said. "I didn't go into details about his legal situation. I can't comment on that.'' In March, 1998, Chandrasegaram told Senior Magistrate Will Francis if he were deported from Bermuda to Sri Lanka he would be killed.

He was speaking minutes after admitting he entered the Island on an illegal passport, airline ticket, and Immigration form.

Chandrasegaram was refused entry into the US when he tried to leave Bermuda after two days on the Island.

Chandrasegaram was deported back to Switzerland after almost four months on the Island, including eight weeks at the Co-Ed Facility where he spent his 18th birthday. He was later released and stayed with Dr. Horsfield's family.

There had been constant communication between Bermuda, London, and the Swiss Office for Refugees to have him returned to Switzerland where his odyssey almost undermined his quest for refugee status.

Shortly after Chandrasegaram's first appearance in court, then-Immigration Minister Quinton Edness suggested Chandrasegaram's claim of being in danger was an attempt to influence public opinion.

Mr. Edness also said the teen should be able to get the protection of the Sri Lankan Government, a point strongly challenged by the Amnesty International Secretariat in London.

Gopinath Chandrasegaram