The Office of the Attorney General announced on Tuesday that it would not appeal against the Federal Criminal Court’s ruling from last July.
The activists’ lawyers reacted happily to the decision. “This is an important victory for freedom of expression, but one that should not obscure the direct attack on freedom of expression that this trial represented,” they said in a statement.
Overall, the case not only leaves a high bill for the state, but also and above all a feeling of waste due to disproportionate criminal action, the statement noted. The case resulted in freedom of expression suffering a serious blow.
On July 27, the criminal court acquitted the three young men, aged 21, 23 and 32, of charges of inciting them to violate military service obligations. The costs of the case were awarded to the federal government and the three activists were compensated for their legal fees.
The defendants were initially sentenced to conditional fines by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office because they had published an article entitled “The Army, I Boycott” on the climate strike’s website in May 2020. “Out of ethics, morality, ecological and social responsibility,” they called for people to refuse military service.
An Swiss People’s Party politician later filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office against unknown persons on suspicion of inciting a violation of military service obligations.
More
More
The Swiss army: your questions answered
This content was published on
A top Swiss army spokesman answers readers’ questions on the role of the forces.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
This content was published on
The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
This content was published on
The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
OECD: Sluggish economic activity slowing growth in Switzerland
This content was published on
Sluggish economic activity at the start of the year is weighing on growth in Switzerland, with GDP expected to fall to 1.1% in 2024.
Report finds mistakes which led to Swiss government data breach
This content was published on
Mistakes were made by both the government and internet company Xplain in the case of a criminal cyber-attack on the Bern-based IT business.
Swiss government wants better gender balance in federal administration
This content was published on
New Swiss government personnel management targets say there must be even more female managers in the federal administration.
Swiss national science foundation funded over 5,000 projects in 2023
This content was published on
In 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) provided a total of CHF961 million worth of funding towards research projects.
Switzerland invites 160 delegations to June Ukraine peace talks
This content was published on
Russia is currently not among the delegations invited to talks aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.
Survey: air travel most popular way to go on holidays for Swiss
This content was published on
Despite the climate crisis, flying is the most popular mode of transport for private travel – particularly among young, urban and high-income travellers.
Swiss government to use phone data to identify asylum seekers
This content was published on
From April 2025, authorities plan to be able to analyse data from mobile phones, computers and other data carriers to identify asylum seekers.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.