deported after nearly four months on the Island.

The Deputy Governor's office yesterday confirmed that 18-year-old Gopinath Chandresagaram will be deported to Switzerland -- where his father has asylum -- later this week after five months in Bermuda.

Efforts to return him to Switzerland began in April after he told Senior Magistrate Will Francis if he were sent back to Sri Lanka he would be killed.

Yesterday, Government House Registrar Paul Dryden said he had received word from the British Consulate in Berne.

The Swiss Office for Refugees had "agreed to take him back temporarily'' he said.

Chandresagaram will return to Switzerland to the refugee status he had before leaving in January. The Swiss originally denied his re-entry as a refugee.

It is believed Chandresagaram's mother and sister hold the same temporary status while his father, who preceeded the rest of the family, is a Swiss resident.

Mr. Dryden confirmed that by leaving Switzerland while waiting for complete refugee status, Chandresagaram had risked losing that status.

Mr. Dryden added: "He's a very lucky young man. We would have had to return him to Sri Lanka. However his future in Switzerland is for the Swiss to decide.'' Chief Immigration Officer Martin Brewer called the case "unique to Bermuda but not unusual elsewhere'' and confirmed that arrangements were being made for the deportation.

Dr. Brewer said: "In my experience it is unique. We have done all that we can to get him back to Switzerland.'' He added that Chandresagaram would be put on the Island's stop list "because there will be a charge to Government -- at least until that is paid he cannot return.'' Lawyer Clare Hatcher said she was pleased at the outcome and thanked the local family which took him in after his release from prison.

"They've been fantastic,'' she said. "They have shown him around the Island.'' Chandresagaram arrived in Bermuda on March 17 on a forged Canadian passport, British Airways airline ticket, and Bermuda Immigration card, all in the name of Marcello Rici.

Two days later he tried to leave Bermuda via the United States but was turned back at US Immigration pre-clearance at the airport. He was arrested by Police shortly after.

On March 25 he pleaded guilty to three counts of using forged documents to enter Bermuda.

Through an German interpreter, he told Mr. Francis: "If I went back to Sri Lanka, as soon as I left the airport I would be killed.'' And he hinted at the political turmoil in Sri Lanka after Mr. Francis asked if he spoke "Sri Lankan''.

The interpreter told Mr. Francis: "He said there are two languages in Sri Lanka. The poor man speaks one and the army speaks another. When he returns they would arrest and kill him after accusing him of crimes.'' On April 3, then Immigration minister Quinton Edness said: "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.'' This raised concern with the local chapter of human rights watchdog Amnesty International who contacted the international secretariat and local authorities to halt a deportation to Sri Lanka.

And Sri Lankan refugee organisations in London confirmed that repatriation to Sri Lanka often meant torture, extortion, long detention without trial, or even death.

Sri Lanka is a member of the British Commonwealth and United Nations and became independent of the United Kingdom in 1949.