Zurich police officers face trial for alleged racism and violence

Wilson A., second to right, speaks at a solidarity rally before the trial at the Zurich high court, on Thursday, February 15, 2024, in canton Zurich. Today, Thursday, three Zurich city police officers are on trial before the Zurich high court. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / MICHAEL BUHOLZER

This Thursday, three Zurich city police officers will stand trial before the Zurich high court. They are accused of seriously injuring a black man during an arrest in 2009.

The man accuses the police officers of racism and police violence. The accused and the public prosecutor’s office hold a perspective.

In April 2018, the Zurich District Court acquitted the defendants, two police officers and a policewoman from the Zurich city police, of the charge of endangering life. At the time, the public prosecutor had also requested an acquittal – contrary to her own indictment. The private plaintiff did not agree with the judgement, which is why the case will be heard by the High Court on Thursday.

In October 2009, Nigerian-born Wilson A. was sitting on a tram in Zurich after midnight with another dark-skinned man. The two men had previously attended a party and were on their way home when two police officers got on the tram and asked to see their identification.

The police officers allegedly wanted to check whether one of the two was a person wanted by the police. The two dark-skinned men asked why only they were being checked and whether this had anything to do with the colour of their skin.

The situation escalated

The police officers asked the two men to get off at the next stop, where a third police officer was waiting. After they got off, the situation escalated. Accounts differ widely as to why and how exactly the situation escalated.

According to the police officers, Wilson A., who was of a strong build, behaved uncooperatively and aggressively, while his colleague remained calm. The officers therefore had to defend themselves. Wilson A. was arrested with reasonable force.

Wilson A., on the other hand, claims that the police officers attacked him for no reason, beat him, sprayed him with pepper spray and even choked him. He alleged that he asked them not to use force from the outset, as he had recently had heart surgery.

Wilson A. suffered various injuries in the incident, including a broken lumbar vertebra, bruises on his face and neck, a pulled thigh and a serious knee injury.

A 14-year-long case

The fact that it took over 14 years for the case to be heard by the high court was partly due to the fact that the lawyers of Wilson A. filed dozens of motions during the proceedings. They often sought to have the responsible public prosecutor or judges involved in the proceedings declared biased.

On two occasions, the public prosecutor wanted to discontinue the proceedings – and was forced by the courts to continue and extend the charges to wilful homicide.

For Wilson A.’s lawyers and several non-governmental organizations following and reporting on the case, it involves more than just the individual incident. They see the case of Wilson A. as a typical example of “racial profiling”, or the fact that dark-skinned people are more frequently checked by the police and are dealt with more harshly because of their skin colour.

The “Alliance Against Racial Profiling” has announced a media conference on the case of Wilson A. for Thursday morning. The organisation is also calling for a rally in front of the high court. The police officers’ defence lawyers and the public prosecutor rejected the corresponding accusations before the district court. The police officers had merely been doing their job; the case had nothing to do with racial profiling, which the proceedings had been stylised as, said the public prosecutor at the time. If the 36-year-old at the time of the crime, had simply shown his ID and “not had a pointless discussion of principles” because of his skin colour, nothing would have happened.

Translated from German by DeepL/amva

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