Federal Court rules: 29-year-old must leave the country for eight years

The life of the Italian with a settlement permit C, let’s call him Alberto, started very normal: he was born in Lucerne in 1994, he grew up in Emmenbrücke and finished compulsory education, he finished apprenticeship as a row paver, he worked non-stop in various positions in the construction industry, with the Lived with girlfriend, maintaining friendships and family.

And yet the Federal Court wrote in a judgment published a few days ago: “In sum, the expulsion from the lower court from the state for eight years proves that according to federal and international law.” The highest judges thus confirm what the Lucerne Cantonal Court decided on January 10 of this year: Alberto must leave Switzerland. How could he come to this?

Lange’s criminal record

Alberto has another side. “The extract contains several entries from his criminal record,” the Federal Court wrote. Since 2014 he has been convicted several times for various violations of the Road Traffic Act. Above all, on April 18, 2018, he was given a partial prison sentence of 36 months for robbery, damage to property, multiple offenses against the Narcotics Act, criminal mischief, coercion and violation of the Narcotics Act. That did not stop him from committing crimes.

Drug crimes are particularly serious. According to the cantonal court, collected 1,390 grams of pure cocaine. An amount that exceeds the limit defines a hard case 76 times. And which, among other things, led to the cantonal court sentencing Alberto to a prison sentence of 5 years and 5 months and ordering him to be expelled from the country for eight years.

Federal Court “always tight”

According to the Lucerne judges, there were four reasons for their expulsion. First, the law provides for five to fifteen years of deportation from the country for foreigners who have received a prison sentence of at least one year for violating the Narcotics Act. Secondly, the cantonal court cited the previous jurisprudence of the Federal Court, which has always been “hard” in such cases, as the Federal Court write about yourself.

Third, Alberto went again. The current criminal cases and the renewed prison could not have affected him more; He continued his crimes during the ongoing proceedings, until a further charge was required. Fourth, Alberto has accumulated debts between 60,000 and 70,000 francs, which the judges believe increases the risk of reoffending.

The Federal Court decided that the Lucerne Cantonal Court carefully weighed the interests of the young Italians and public safety and dismissed Alberto’s complaint. According to the cantonal court, he risked the life of his family in Switzerland because of his own fault and accepted the separation from relatives. He is young, healthy and childless. He also speaks Italian and his professional skills in the construction industry would allow him to build a career in the Italian labor market. He has the opportunity to integrate into Italy. Nevertheless, thanks to modern means of communication and the relatively short distance, he can keep in touch with his social environment in Switzerland.