An illegal Sri Lankan immigrant will have to wait another two weeks to learn of his fate.

But it emerged yesterday that Government authorities were trying to have the young man returned to his family in Switzerland rather than deporting him to Sri Lanka where he fears he will be killed.

Chandrase Gopinath -- who is being held at Westgate Correctional Facility -- appeared before Senior Magistrate Will Francis for mention yesterday.

Police prosecutor Sgt. Phil Taylor told Mr. Francis authorities were in contact with the Swiss Government and the Sri Lankan embassy in Washington, D.C.

"We ask for more time in this matter,'' Sgt. Taylor added.

Mr. Francis ordered Gopinath, who was not represented, to be returned to court on April 22.

Gopinath, whose age has not been confirmed, pleaded guilty to using a false passport, false airline ticket, and false Bermuda Immigration card to enter Bermuda after arriving on a British Airways flight from London on March 17.

He told authorities he wanted to get to Canada and told Mr. Francis on March 25, when he first appeared in court, he feared for his life if he was returned to Sri Lanka.

Yesterday, Immigration Minister Quinton Edness confirmed that his Ministry was trying to have Gopinath returned to Switzerland.

"We are not concentrating on sending him back to Sri Lanka, at this time,'' Mr. Edness said.

He also noted that Gopinath's father was a resident in Zurich, Switzerland and his mother with two children -- one of them believed to be Chandrase -- left Sri Lanka in 1996.

"They arrived in Switzerland by car from Rome and the mother applied for asylum, but the application was rejected,'' Mr. Edness said. "However a temporary admission was issued to the mother and the minors.'' "The Swiss Consul is still hopeful that Switzerland will take Mr. Gopinath because he at least was a minor when he entered the country,'' he added.

"If we fail, then we would have to consider returning him to Sri Lanka. But we're quite a distance away from that.'' Mr. Edness also confirmed that his Ministry had been contacted by Amnesty International. He said the human rights watchdog had been informed that authorities were trying to return Gopinath to Switzerland.

"If we're not successful,'' Mr. Edness continued, "the Bermuda Government would make all sorts of inquiries into whether or not he would be safe (in Sri Lanka).'' Amnesty International Bermuda section director LeYoni Junos last week expressed concern about the case.

Ms Junos stressed that Amnesty opposed "any person being returned to a country where he or she would be at risk''.

But Mr. Edness said his Ministry was still finding it difficult to get information from Gopinath, even small matters like his age.

"We are not certain about his age,'' he said. "That's why we want to get a birth certificate or passport from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington.'' However, Mr. Edness admitted that he was surprised that Gopinath was not represented by a lawyer in yesterday's hearing.

"I'm surprised because normally under our system there would be a court appointed lawyer to represent him,'' he said.