Navigation

Hemp farmer gets additional jail sentence

A hemp farmer sentenced to more than five years in jail for growing marijuana and other offences now faces an extra year in prison.

This content was published on May 10, 2011 - 15:44
swissinfo.ch and agencies

A court in Martigny, in French-speaking Switzerland, ordered that Bernard Rappaz – who hit the headlines after a series of hunger strikes – must serve 12 months for further offences.

Rappaz was found guilty on Tuesday of seriously violating the drugs law, money laundering and forgery of documents for a series of offences over the period 2002-2006. His lawyer said he would appeal the sentence.

Rappaz has begun and ended several hunger strikes since his first conviction in March 2010 which concerns the period 1996 to 2001. He claimed his sentence was too severe.

The case received widespread media attention in Switzerland, in particular because of the dilemma faced by the authorities over whether or not to force feed Rappaz if necessary.

In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

Sort by

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?

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.

Discover our weekly must-reads for free!

Sign up to get our top stories straight into your mailbox.

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.