Customs office employee sacked for racism

The Federal Customs Office has dismissed an employee who was embroiled in a scandal involving the dissemination of racist comments on the Internet.

The office announced on Monday that 56-year-old Hanspeter Sutter had lost his job.

Sutter was caught red-handed by the Swiss tabloid paper “Blick” last year, when he entered the Swiss Internet chatroom, Swisstalk, under the pseudonym “Admiral”, and began disseminating racist comments.

While the man’s actions took place at home, Swiss legislation says that the behaviour of a civil servant outside the work place must be representative of the values of the Swiss state.

The Customs Office’s move comes as Switzerland grapples with apparently increasing right-wing extremist activity in the country.

swissinfo with agencies