Russia’s war against Ukraine is also affecting people in Switzerland. One month after the attack on February 24, 2022 Bernese activist Lisa Salza from Amnesty International, together with five fellow campaigners, wanted to hand over a petition with 15,000 signatures to the representatives of the Russian Embassy in BernIt called for a withdrawal of Russian troops from the neighboring country.
But even before the group got close to the embassy in Elfenau, they were turned away by embassy security. Later, the city’s police inspectorate imposed a fine of 300 francs, which Salza refused to accept. In the “Berner Zeitung”, Salza spoke of an arbitrary and disproportionate approach. The case therefore ended up before a single judge at the Bern-Mittelland regional court.
Closed event instead of demo
The court acquitted Salza of all charges on Thursday afternoon. This is what her lawyer Dominic Nellen said when asked by BärnToday. The city’s regulations for demonstrations do indeed require a permit, and Salza was undoubtedly the organizer of the petition handover in March 2022.
But her actions were not punishable, the court said, because she had not done much organizational work – that is, she had not launched appeals on social media, drawn up rally routes, or anything like that. A “closed event,” such as handing over a petition with a few like-minded people, cannot be punished. The state must bear the legal costs.
“The city should go over the books”
For Dominic Nellen, the verdict is groundbreaking. “I am positively surprised by the court’s reasoning.” It is a victory for freedom of expression in Switzerland – and the city of Bern needs to go over the books when it comes to dealing with such “mini rallies”. It even reported demonstrations of two people, for example an action in front of the British embassy for the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. There, too, there were acquittals.
However, the regional court’s ruling is not yet final and can be appealed to the higher court.
Amnesty International is happy
In a statement, the Swiss section of the human rights organization Amnesty International welcomed the verdict: “Finishing an activist because she wanted to hand over a demand for peace in Ukraine to the Russian representation is absurd and contrary to international law. The court has corrected that today,” said Alicia Giraudel, lawyer at Amnesty Switzerland.
