A hemp farmer sentenced to five years in jail for growing pot and other offences has decided to end a hunger strike 120 days after it began.
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Bernard Rappaz from canton Valais said he would follow a court order and resume eating on Christmas Eve.
The European Court of Human Rights rejected Rappaz’s requests to intervene in his case immediately after all Swiss authorities refused to commute his sentence. Judges in Strasbourg said it would take two to three years to hear his case and ordered him to eat in the meantime.
In a statement released on Thursday, the 57-year-old Rappaz thanked supporters for showing solidarity with him. He criticised Swiss judicial authorities for having swung toward “populist rightwing fascism”.
Rappaz has been on and ended several hunger strikes since being convicted for having 51 tons of hemp between 1997 and 2001. The sentence is too severe, he believes. Swiss authorities recently ordered him to be forced fed if need be, an action Rappaz also spoke out against.
“My actions have also led the medical community to be able to unanimously stand for respecting human rights and against the medieval torture of forced feeding,” he said
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No pardon for cannabis farmer Rappaz
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On Wednesday the court announced its decision to reject his latest appeal for a reprieve; Rappaz has been on a hunger strike. The court said that there was no medical reason to grant a pardon and that Geneva University Hospital – responsible for Rappaz’s care – could re-nourish him if he ends his hunger strike.…
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Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten of the Vaud cantonal security office told Geneva’s University Hospital to take steps to protect the health of Bernard Rappaz, including force feeding him if necessary. She said there should not be any interruption to his jail term. She told a hastily convened news conference on Wednesday that a Federal Court ruling from…
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Doctors have refused orders from the authorities to force feed him, turning the case into a modern Greek tragedy, one Swiss newspaper, the Tages-Anzeiger, wrote last week. In the latest twist to the story, on Tuesday the Federal Court rejected Rappaz’ appeal for his imprisonment to be suspended. Across Switzerland, everyone is talking about the…
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Bernard Rappaz is now in Bern’s Insel hospital and doctors have been told by Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten, a member of the Valais government who is responsible for the dossier, to force-feed him to keep him alive. She made the decision after consultation with the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne, which is to consider an appeal by…
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Swiss tobacco production is on the decline; only about 400 farmers still grow this labour-intensive crop. Most of them are in the Broye Valley stretching across cantons Vaud and Fribourg. Their production covers only a small share of the tobacco consumed in Switzerland. (Text and images, Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch)
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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.