An immigrant who claimed deportation would lead to his death is likely to be returned home shortly.

Immigration Minister Quinton Edness yesterday told The Royal Gazette Chandrare Gophinath -- who appeared in Magistrates' Court last week for three counts of using forged documents to enter Bermuda on March 17 -- had been identified as a Sri Lankan national.

Mr. Edness revealed Gophinath had violated the terms of his residency in Switzerland by leaving its borders.

"He claimed to have been living in Switzerland,'' he said. "He no longer has permission to go back to Switzerland. That option is no longer open to him.

"We are talking about arrangements for sending him back to Sri Lanka. He is a Sri Lankan national,'' he added.

Gophinath last week told Senior Magistrate Will Francis if he returned to Sri Lanka -- rather than Switzerland where his parents have asylum, he would be killed.

"As soon as I left the airport I would be killed,'' he said.

He also hinted that because of the island's civil war he would be under suspicion if he entered Sri Lanka without a passport or birth certificate.

"The poor man speaks one (language) and the army speaks another,'' Gophinath said through an interpreter.

But Mr. Edness said Gophinath's case had nothing to do with political asylum.

"We don't know for sure, but either his parents or relatives live in Switzerland,'' Mr. Edness said. "It has nothing to do with political asylum.

They have the right to live there. We are not really concerned with how that came about.'' When asked about Gophinath's fear of being executed if extradited to Sri Lanka, Mr. Edness said: "Well that's got nothing to do with us.

"The authorities can't verify that is true or not,'' he added. "It seems to us that it's the normal thing for someone to appeal to our sensitivity.

"While we don't want to send him anywhere to be killed obviously, he should be able to get the protection of the Sri Lankan authorities like anyone else.'' Mr. Edness noted reports that Gophinath had changed his story several times.

Two days after arriving in Bermuda, Gophinath was stopped at US Immigration and Customs pre-clearance area as he tried to leave for the US.