Compensation for Syrian after pregnant wife denied help on Swiss train

Compensation for husband after pregnant Syrian woman denied help. Keystone-SDA

Switzerland’s Federal Court has partially upheld the appeal of a Syrian family being deported from Switzerland to Italy in 2014. The man has now also received compensation.

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The border guards refused to provide medical assistance to the woman, who was 27 weeks pregnant at the time and was suffering from increasing pain on arrival in Brig.

Despite repeated requests from the husband, the border guards did not seek medical help. After the family arrived in Italy, the unborn child was found to have died in hospital.

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Following her complaint, the Federal Administrative Court awarded the woman CHF12,000 ($13,450) in compensation.

In a ruling published on Friday, the Federal Supreme Court awarded the husband CHF1,000. According to the court, the man was directly affected by the events in Brig. He had to watch as his wife was not given any help. The man’s mental integrity had thus been unlawfully violated, the court ruled.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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