Sellner wanted to give a lecture on the subject of remigration in the canton of Zurich. Fedpol has now issued an entry ban.
The right-wing extremist Martin Sellner is not allowed to enter Switzerland from Austria.
Georg Hochmuth / APA
The Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) has imposed an entry ban on the Austrian right-wing extremist Martin Sellner. As can be seen from the order published on Friday, the ban applies from October 10th to 27th. The Zurich cantonal police had applied to Fedpol for a ban.
Sellner was supposed to give a lecture on the subject of remigration and present his book in the canton of Zurich on October 19th. The term stands for the mass deportation of foreigners with integration difficulties. The right-wing extremist group Junge Tat announced the lecture on social networks.
When asked by the NZZ, Fedpol did not disclose why the ban was imposed on Sellner. It explains that Fedpol can, in principle, impose entry bans and expulsions “to protect the internal or external security of Switzerland”. These were carried out “as preventive police measures based on a comprehensive case-by-case review,” as a spokesman says.
The focus is on “defending specific security threats”. Preventive police measures must be proportionate. Fedpol must therefore carefully weigh up the interests at stake.
Failure to comply with the ban will result in a prison sentence of up to one year or a fine, according to the order.
Sellner himself commented on the entry ban in a video message published on X and criticized it as “censorship” and “repression”. His lecture will definitely take place despite the ban. He and his Swiss friends would use a few tricks to achieve this.
In March, Sellner traveled to Switzerland to speak about “ethnic choice and remigration” in Tegerfelden, Aargau. Young Tat had also invited him back then.
The Aargau Cantonal Police prevented the lecture at the last minute by taking Sellner that evening to the Aargau Cantonal Viticulture Museum, where he wanted to give a lecture. The police said the event was judged to be a “threat to public safety”.
At that time too, the Zurich cantonal police had applied for an entry ban. Security Director Mario Fehr later explained that Fedpol had “regrettably failed to impose an entry ban in a timely manner”.
Sellner is the former spokesman for the Austrian Identitarian Movement. He became known primarily in connection with a publication by the research network Correctiv. This made it public that Sellner had spoken to entrepreneurs and members of the AfD and the CDU about remigration in Potsdam last November.
