ECHR upholds racial profiling complaint against Switzerland
Switzerland has been condemned for racial profiling by the European Court of Human Rights. A Swiss national, originally from Kenya, brought the case after being stopped and searched in 2015 by the police at Zurich station on his way to work.
The ECHR considered that, taking into account the circumstances of the identity check and the place where it was carried out, the complainant had reasonable grounds to complain of discrimination based on skin color. In addition, his complaint was not the subject of an effective examination by the administrative and criminal authorities in Switzerland.
The complainant suffered violations of Articles 8 (right to respect of private life), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the convention, according to the Strasbourg Court. Switzerland is ordered to pay €23,975 (CHF22,821) to the complainant, in costs and expenses. The person concerned did not claim compensation for material or moral harm.
By arresting this man who seemed suspicious to them, the municipal police did not act correctly. In the police report, the officers indicated at the time that they searched him because he had looked away and tried to avoid the officers. A version contested by the 43-year-old complainant, a librarian at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He believes he was the victim of a racial crime.
The complainant refused to show his identity documents. He was led further away and forced to raise his hands and spread his legs. The officers found his papers in his bag and then let him go. The Zurich courts then sentenced him to a fine of CHF100 for refusing to comply.
In 2020, the Administrative Court of the Canton of Zurich admitted the illegality of this act, but it did not rule on the question of discrimination based on skin colour. The Federal Court declared the appeal against this decision inadmissible.
Translated from French by DeepL/mga
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