Ecoterrorist gets 17 years for murder

An artist's impression of the trial with Camenisch in the foreground Keystone

The self-proclaimed anarchist, Marco Camenisch, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murder of a border guard in 1989.

But he was found not guilty of the attempted murder of a prison guard eight years earlier.

On Friday, a court in Zurich found Camenisch guilty of the fatal shooting of a 36-year-old border guard at Brusio on the Swiss-Italian border in 1989.

The presiding judge, Hans Mathys, said that all the evidence pointed to the fact that Camenisch was responsible for the border guard’s murder.

“It was a senseless and blatantly selfish act and we had to take into account the unscrupulous nature [of the crime],” said Mathys.

The court also ordered that he pay the guard’s wife and child compensation of SFr100,000 ($80,200).

But Camenisch was cleared of attempting to murder a prison officer when he – along with several others – escaped from Regensdorf jail in 1981.

In the ensuing chase one guard was killed and another was wounded. One of the other escapees was judged to have fired the fatal shots.

Blow

The verdict will come as a blow to Camenisch, who had denied both charges during the three-week trial. His legal team, led by Bernard Rambert, had been seeking an acquittal on both counts.

“He was found not guilty in the Regensdorf case, but it’s a Pyrrhic victory,” said Rambert, who immediately announced plans to launch an appeal.

The 17-year sentence for murder was less than the life imprisonment demanded by the prosecution team.

But the 52-year-old Camenisch also faces the prospect of an additional eight years in prison to serve out the remainder of the original ten-year sentence he was handed down before breaking out of Regensdorf jail.

The trial was marked by damaging testimony from witnesses and by sporadic protests from Camenisch’s supporters.

Camenisch was present for only part of the court hearing and his testimony was limited to three prepared written statements and a “no comment” when prosecutors sought to question him.

Life on the run

Camenisch, who comes from Campocologno in canton Graubünden, made a name for himself during the late 1970s and 1980s as a militant member of the anti-nuclear power movement.

He was jailed for ten years for bombing an electricity facility at Bad Ragaz in eastern Switzerland in 1979, a sentence considered excessive at the time.

But he escaped from prison, along with five others, two years later.

It was during this breakout that a prison guard was killed and another was seriously wounded.

The border guard murder also dates from a period when Camenisch was on the run.

During the trial he stood accused of firing several shots at the victim, who was approaching Camenisch to ask for his identity papers.

Bomb attacks

The Italian authorities finally caught up with Camenisch in November 1991 after a shoot-out near the town of Massa in Tuscany. Camenisch and a policeman were wounded.

He was charged with causing bodily harm and carrying out a number of bomb attacks on power lines in Tuscany between 1989 and 1991. An Italian court sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

Camenisch was extradited to Switzerland in spring 2002 at the request of the Swiss authorities to serve the remaining eight years and 22 days of his 1979 sentence. A suspended investigation into his activities was then reopened.

swissinfo, Isobel Leybold

In brief

Marco Camenisch

1979: Sentenced to ten years in prison for bombing an electricity facility in Bad Ragaz.

1981: Escapes from Regensdorf prison – one guard is killed and another wounded during the breakout.

1989: Suspected of murdering a border guard in Brusio on the Swiss-Italian border.

1991: Arrested in Tuscany in Italy after a shoot-out with police.

1993: Sentenced to 12 years by an Italian court for carrying out attacks on power lines.

2002: Extradited to Switzerland.

2004: Goes on trial in Zurich for murder and attempted murder – is found guilty of the former and acquitted of the latter.