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Repeat offender Brian back in Swiss custody following brawl  

A close-up shot of a man, Brian Keller, on a city street.
Keller in November 2023. Keystone/Michael Buholzer

Zurich city police arrested a notorious repeat offender, known as Brian, on Thursday evening after a brawl. The public prosecutor's office has opened proceedings on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm.  

The 28-year-old has been provisionally detained for the time being, the Zurich public prosecutor’s office announced on Friday. It remains to be seen whether Keller will remain in custody for longer. The public prosecutor’s office has not yet decided whether it will apply to the compulsory measures court for pre-trial detention. It must make this decision within 48 hours.  

+ UN torture rapporteur wades into ‘Carlos’ case

The public prosecutor’s office did not provide any further details due to the ongoing proceedings. However, it referred to the presumption of innocence, which applies until the legal conclusion of proceedings.  

Brian allegedly attacked a man with punches in Zurich on Wednesday evening. Images from a surveillance camera show the well-known ex-convict running towards his opponent and knocking him down. The victim was Tiktoker “Skorp808”, with whom Brian has been feuding for some time.  

On Thursday, both had published videos in which they commented on the latest incident. “Skorp808” said that he had suffered a triple fracture to his cheekbone in the attack. Brian stated that his opponent had recently insulted his mother and girlfriend and attacked a colleague.  

+ Brian released from prison in November 2023

Videos of the two men had already surfaced in March. Brian insulted his opponent and demanded his head while posing with a knife. He claimed that this was an advert for a fight and “trash talk”, as is common in boxing. He was subsequently questioned by the public prosecutor’s office.  

In November 2023, Brian, who became known under the pseudonym “Carlos” in a documentary film about a youth lawyer in 2013, was released after years in various prisons. At the age of 28, he was finally able to live his own life, he said at the time. He wished to become a professional boxer and simply be a decent citizen. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kc

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.  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

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