Federal Court dismisses appeal by right-wing extremist

Right-wing extremist Marcel Strebel's appeal for a retrial has been rejected. Keystone / Christoph Ruckstuhl

The Federal Court in Lausanne has dismissed an appeal by a right-wing extremist, Marcel Strebel. He was seeking a re-trial after receiving a two-year prison sentence in 1999 for endangering the lives of two policemen.

Strebel was convicted last year by Schwyz court for a 1994 shoot-out with local police in the town of Brunnen. The former leader of the right-wing Patriotic Front shot at the policemen twice with an assault rifle.

Strebel based his appeal on a witness’s testimony. The witness said he fired a shot into the air. As the police found only one empty shell, Strebel argued that he was innocent of firing on the policemen.

The cantonal court had rejected Strebel’s argument, saying the witness’ testimony did not exclude the possibility of more than one shot being fired.

In his appeal to the Federal Court, Strebel accused the Schwyz police of lying and denounced what he called the “mafia-like activities of the Schwyz authorities”.

The Lausanne judges ruled that Strebel’s appeal wasn’t sufficiently justified. They also said he risked a disciplinary sentence if he was to repeat his defamatory statements against the police and the justice authorities of Schwyz.

Strebel fled to Spain to avoid serving his prison sentence. He was arrested in February for a minor offence and handed over to Swiss authorities in April.

swissinfo with agencies