Police officers stand trial for escalated control in Zurich
Published: Thursday, Feb 15th 2024, 04:50
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This Thursday, three Zurich city police officers will stand trial before the Zurich High Court. They are accused of seriously injuring a dark-skinned man during an arrest in 2009. The man accuses the police officers of racism and police violence. The defendants and the public prosecutor's office see things differently.
In April 2018, the Zurich District Court acquitted the defendants, two policemen and a policewoman from the Zurich municipal police, of the charge of endangering life. At the time, the public prosecutor had also requested an acquittal - contrary to her own indictment. The private plaintiff did not agree with the verdict, which is why the case will be heard by the High Court on Thursday.
Born in Nigeria, Wilson A. was sitting on a streetcar in Zurich after midnight on an October evening in 2009 with a man who was also dark-skinned. The two had previously attended a party and were on their way home when a policewoman and a police officer got on the streetcar and asked to see their ID cards.
The police officers allegedly wanted to check whether one of the two was a person wanted by the police. The two dark-skinned men asked why only they were being checked and whether this had anything to do with their skin color.
The situation escalated at the bus stop
The police officers asked the two men to get off at the next stop. A third police officer was waiting there in the meantime. After they got off the bus, the situation escalated. Accounts differ widely as to why and how exactly.
According to the police officers, Wilson A., who had a strong build, was uncooperative and aggressive, unlike his colleague. They therefore had to defend themselves. Wilson A. was arrested with reasonable force.
Wilson A., on the other hand, claims that the police officers attacked him for no reason, beat him, sprayed him with pepper spray and even choked him. And this despite the fact that he had asked them from the outset not to use force, as he had only recently undergone heart surgery.
It is undisputed that Wilson A. suffered various injuries in the incident, including a broken lumbar vertebra, bruises on his face and neck, a thigh strain and a serious knee injury.
A never-ending story of justice
The fact that it took over 14 years for the case to be heard by the High Court was partly due to the fact that the lawyers of the man injured during the inspection filed dozens of motions during the proceedings. Often it was a question of declaring the responsible public prosecutor or judges involved in the proceedings biased.
Twice the public prosecutor wanted to discontinue the proceedings - and was forced by the courts to continue them and extend the charge to intentional homicide.
For Wilson A.'s lawyers and several non-governmental organizations that are following and reporting on the case, it is about much more than the individual case. They see the case of Wilson A. as a typical example of "racial profiling", i.e. the fact that dark-skinned people are more frequently checked by the police and are dealt with more harshly because of their skin color.
The "Alliance Against Racial Profiling" has announced a media conference on the case of Wilson A. for Thursday morning. The organization is also calling for a rally in front of the high court.
The police officers' defense lawyers and the public prosecutor rejected the corresponding accusations before the district court. The police officers had merely done their job; the case had nothing to do with racial profiling, which the proceedings had been stylized as, said the public prosecutor at the time. If the 36-year-old at the time of the crime had simply shown his ID and "not had a pointless fundamental discussion" about his skin color, nothing would have happened.
©Keystone/SDA
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