Stalking to become separate Swiss criminal offence

Stalking" to be enshrined in Swiss penal code Keystone-SDA

Stalking or harassment will become enshrined in the Swiss penal code as a specific offence, after parliament approved the measure.

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According to parliamentarian Céline Vara, stalking causes psychological, physical and economic damage. The phenomenon has become more widespread in recent years, particularly as a result of social networking.

+ Lack of law on stalking bemoaned

Children, teenagers and women are among the victims that have their lives “ruined” by stalking, the parliamentary debate heard.

The Federal Council has also come out in favor of the project. However, Justice Minister Beat Jans warned against raising expectations too high. He also raised the challenges of implementing the new standard.

Some parliamentarians were opposed to the measure, complaining either of the overly broad wording of the bill or believing the civil law code was adequate to deal with the problem.

One alternative proposal was to strengthen civil law instruments.

According to the House of Representatives’ committee draft, stalking should be punishable by a custodial sentence of up to three years or a fine.

Technical differences over the final wording of the bill have yet to be resolved by both parliamentary chambers.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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