Bernard Rappaz, who is serving a prison sentence for cannabis farming and dealing, has been taken to hospital in Sion after 51 days of a hunger strike.
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A friend, Boris Ryser, said Rappaz had been suffering from hypoglycemia, the medical term for a state produced by a lower than normal level of blood glucose.
He added that Rappaz from the southwestern canton of Valais, had received glucose injections. “This does not mean that he has been force fed,” Ryser added.
The Federal Court ruled in August that the authorities had the right to order force feeding to prevent permanent health damage or death.
The issue sparked controversy over Rappaz’ rights as an individual.
According to Ryser, Rappaz had lost nine kg in weight, had “drastically lost strength” and had the “face of an old man”.
Rappaz is serving a prison term of five years and eight months for cannabis dealing and other offences. He was in hospital after a previous hunger strike and was under house arrest before an appeal at the Federal Court was rejected. He was subsequently returned to prison.
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Cannabis cultivator confounds the authorities
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Bernard Rappaz is now in Bern’s Insel hospital and doctors have been told by Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten, a member of the Valais government who is responsible for the dossier, to force-feed him to keep him alive. She made the decision after consultation with the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne, which is to consider an appeal by…
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Bernard Rappaz, 49, who had been on a hunger strike for more than 70 days, was jailed last November after police raided his cannabis farm in Charrat in the Valais and seized 50 tons of marijuana and other cannabis-based products. He was being held in the prison unit of a Geneva Hospital. The cantonal court…
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Swiss tobacco production is on the decline; only about 400 farmers still grow this labour-intensive crop. Most of them are in the Broye Valley stretching across cantons Vaud and Fribourg. Their production covers only a small share of the tobacco consumed in Switzerland. (Text and images, Thomas Kern/swissinfo.ch)
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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.