Swiss Hells Angels trial alleges rape and money laundering

The accused must stand trial for a whole series of serious offences at the criminal court © KEYSTONE / GEORGIOS KEFALAS

The trial against an allegedly high-ranking member of the Hells Angels began on Monday at the criminal court in Basel. Opening statements focused on the large sums of money found during a search of the accused's home.

The accused justified the large sums of money in his flat in Weil Am Rhein, Germany by claiming, among other things, that he had been keeping them because he was a middleman dealing in luxury watches. The watches were supposed to have been exchanged between two well-known members of the Swiss national football team.

The accused must stand trial for a whole series of serious offences at the criminal court. Among other things, the 36-year-old is accused of organised crime and money laundering totalling millions, rape, sexual acts with children, and bribery of prison officers.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/mga

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].