Federal elected officials want to make the assassination imprescriptible – rts.ch

His press release went under the radar. A few weeks ago, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of States announced that by a narrow majority (5 votes to 4), it had decided to submit to the Upper House a project requesting that the assassination be made imprescriptible.

This decision constitutes an important step in this issue which has occupied the Federal Chambers since 2019. That year, in fact, the canton of Saint-Gall tabled an initiative requesting that the most serious crimes be imprescriptible.

After a back and forth between the National Council and the Council of States, the subject is therefore once again on the desk of the Council of States. It will study it in spring 2025 and a final decision on this issue should be taken in the following months.

Prescribed after 30 years

Today, in Switzerland, assassination is prescribed after 30 years. This means that an assassin who is identified or who comes to the table more than thirty years after the events would risk absolutely nothing from a criminal point of view.

Let’s take an example: in December 1993, a Geneva restaurateur was stabbed several times in his building.

This homicide gave rise to numerous investigative measures, but the perpetrator was never caught. This case, which took place 31 years ago, has therefore been time-barred for a year now.

What will happen if the killer is found in five years? I would pass him in the street, I would know that he killed my father, but there was nothing we could do. I experience it very badly

If the murderer were to come out of the woods, he would not be bothered by justice. Questioned in La Matinale de la RTS, the restaurateur’s daughter does not hide her dismay.

“I feel a feeling of sadness. What will happen if the murderer is found in five years? I would pass him in the street, I would know that he killed my father, but nothing could be done. I’m having a very bad time, it’s sad, if only for the memory of my father,” confides Murielle, met Monday evening at her home.

For the fifty-year-old, the situation is hard to manage. “With my brother, we had hope. We always had hope, but now, we no longer have it. And when we no longer have hope, we have a hard time.”

Professor of criminal law at the University of Geneva and a great expert on prescription issues, Yvan Jeanneret understands Murielle’s sadness, but recalls a message “which is sometimes difficult to hear”.

Does it still make sense to punish a person who committed an offense forty years ago, but has behaved perfectly since then?

“Criminal law is a right which is a right of the author, above all. It is there to sanction someone who has committed an offense, but this sanction must have meaning. It is a question which lies behind the statute of limitations. Does punishing a person who committed an offense forty years ago, but who has behaved perfectly since then, still make sense”, asks Yvan Jeanneret.

“Snub”

We see that on this subject, there is a tension between an emotional approach and a more legalistic approach. This tension explains the very close votes of elected officials in the Federal Chambers.

Member of the Legal Affairs Commission of the Council of States, Mauro Poggia is in favor of making assassination imprescriptible. “In the scale of the most abominable crimes, assassination is at the top,” explains Geneva senator MCG, who sits with the UDC group.

“These are offenses which are particularly heinous, as the legislator says, and it is shocking that after a certain period of time, 30 years today, the culprit, even if discovered, can thumb his nose at justice and above all to the victim’s families.”

We risk giving false hope to the families of victims

If they are sensitive to this argument, the cantons, in their vast majority, are opposed to making the assassination imprescriptible. They said this during the consultation procedure carried out by the Commission on State Legal Affairs.

The results of the consultation, released a few weeks ago, went unnoticed. Seventeen cantons rejected the commission’s text. This was the case in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Friborg in French-speaking Switzerland.

In broad terms, certain cantons explain that to prove the assassination, it is necessary to demonstrate the “particular lack of scruples” of the author. This may involve searching for and hearing witnesses. But finding them after more than thirty years and ensuring that their words are reliable is far from easy.

“There is a risk of giving false hope to the families of victims,” said Friborg PLR State Councilor Romain Collaud, head of security and justice.

Genocide and war crimes

“Pain has no prescription. But imagine that a person is arrested thirty after the fact, that he or she is tried for murder, but that the assassination cannot be upheld due to the lack of success in demonstrating the absence of scruples The perpetrator would then be released and it would perhaps even be necessary to compensate him. The pain of the victims’ families could then be even greater.

The question of prescription, very emotional, should be decided next year. We will then know if the assassination becomes imprescriptible in the same way as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or sexual acts committed against children under 12 years old.

Fabiano Citroni, RTS Investigation Department