A member of the Swiss Guard during an event (image d’illustration).Keystone
A former commander of the Swiss Guard has been given a suspended prison sentence. He threatened a man with a chainsaw in November 2022.
A former commander of the Swiss Guard in the Vatican and former head of the criminal police of the canton of Glarus was sentenced on Monday by the Meilen District Court (ZH) to ten months suspended prison sentence. The accused was found guilty of threats, slanderous denunciation and failure to comply with an authority decision.
In November 2022, the accused started a chainsaw in the garden of his ex-partner’s former boyfriend. He walked toward the house and waved the running chainsaw in front of the windows and in front of the door. The woman, with whom he had a child, was in the house at the time and she was terrified. Her ex-boyfriend then alerted the police.
In addition to the suspended prison sentence, the 51-year-old defendant is also sentenced to a fine of 1,000 francs and must undergo therapy.
Head of Security of the Federal Fighting Festival
The defendant filed a complaint against the ex-boyfriend. He claimed that he was the one who threatened him with a chainsaw. At the time of the facts, the accused was municipal secretary in Zermatt (VS). As he no longer showed up for work, his lawyer at the time informed the media that he had taken a “sabbatical leave” even though he was in fact in pre-trial detention.
The former commander of the Swiss Guard spent three months in preventive detention in Zurich. He lost his job as municipal secretary. He was also appointed head of security for the Swiss Federal Wrestling Festival and Alpine Games which is to take place in 2025 in Glarus. He also lost this position.
This is not the first time that the defendant, who had also held a senior position in the Zurich cantonal police, has been in trouble with the law. In January 2021, he was sentenced to a suspended financial sentence for threatening and harassing a former partner.
(sda/ats)
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