The defendant was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for multiple rapes and other offenses earlier this month. Federal prosecutors, said they are satisfied with the verdict.
Interviewed by Keystone-SDA, the defendant’s lawyer said he has filed an appeal with the Federal Criminal Court. During his trial, his client, a 55-year-old dual Italian-Ivorian national, contested most of the charges.
For its part, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) decided not to lodge an appeal, after “carefully analysing” the oral reasoning of the judgment handed down by the Criminal Court on February 6. The decision of the other parties is not yet known.
Accusation widely followed
Prosecutors had requested that the 50-year-old be found guilty of several offences, in particular murder. His ex-girlfriend, on the other hand, was to be acquitted of complicity in murder.
On February 6, the court acquitted the defendants on both counts. However, the main defendant was found guilty of all other offenses, with the exception of a minor misdemeanor. The court therefore broadly followed the prosecution in imposing a custodial sentence of 15 years, as well as deportation from Switzerland for the maximum period of 15 years.
With regard to the murder, the OAG considers that “the arguments retained by the court are coherent and that they sum up very well the complexity of this singular case”.
More
More
Man cleared of Geneva diplomat murder but convicted of rape
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has acquitted an Ivorian-Italian dual national of murdering an Egyptian diplomat in Geneva in 1995.
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, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Demographics
How retiring baby boomers could crash Swiss property market
This content was published on
“Wait and see" seems to be the position adopted by large Swiss companies in the face of US President Donald Trump's trade policy.
Eurostar plans direct link between London and Geneva
This content was published on
The Eurostar railway company wants to offer a direct connection between Switzerland and Great Britain for the first time in the coming years.
Lucy Liu to receive career award at Locarno Film Festival
This content was published on
The Locarno78 Career Achievement Award goes to American actress Lucy Liu. The award will be presented to her on Thursday 14 August on the Piazza Grande.
Swiss foreign minister travels to Israel and Palestinian territories
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis is travelling to the Middle East on Tuesday and Wednesday for official visits to the Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
This content was published on
This year's Zurich city lake crossing is planned for 2 July. Should the weather not play ball or the water be too cold, two alternative dates are planned.
June 14 women’s strike: no equality without pay rises for women
This content was published on
Although pay inequality persists, large companies are ignoring the basic provisions of the Equality Act, Swiss trade union Unia criticised on Tuesday.
Israeli army has committed crimes against humanity, say UN investigators
This content was published on
The Israeli army has committed crimes against humanity of extermination by targeting civilian refugees in schools and religious sites, say UN investigators.
Swiss finance directors against abolishing ‘marriage penalty’
This content was published on
A large majority of cantonal finance directors reject both the popular initiative in favour of individual taxation and the counter-proposal. They favour joint taxation of spouses.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.