Nigerian man’s death: family appeal acquittals of Swiss police

Simon Ntah (left), the lawyer of the family of Mike Ben Peter, and Bridget Efe (right), Mike Ben Peter's widow, following a Swiss court's acquittal on June 23 of six white police officers of charges of negligent homicide in the death of the 39-year-old Nigerian. © Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

The family of a Nigerian man who died from a heart attack during his arrest in Lausanne in 2018 has appealed against the recent acquittal of six police officers on homicide charges.

Simon Ntah, the lawyer of Mike Ben Peter’s family, confirmed on Monday that an appeal had been lodged with the cantonal court against the recent acquittals.

“We believe that the facts have been poorly investigated. There is no question for the family to give up,” Ntah told the Keystone-SDA news agency.

On June 23, the Lausanne district court cleared six police officers, all white, of charges of negligent homicide in the death of Mike Ben Peter, a 39-year-old black Nigerian who suffered a fatal heart attack after he was held down in the street during an arrest.

+ Court acquits Swiss police of death of Nigerian man

The court ruled that the officers were not responsible for the fatal heart attack suffered by Ben Peter. Judge Pierre Bruttin described the case as “tragic” but said the officers had to be acquitted based on the evidence which drew on medical experts’ testimonials. 

The officers had denied the charges, which could have brought a maximum sentence of three years in prison had they been convicted. Swiss privacy laws mean they cannot be named.

+ Swiss police officers on trial over black man’s death

Bruttin said Ben Peter’s death had been “multi-factoral”, citing his obesity and the stress of the situation among the factors.

According to the indictment, the officers first noticed Ben Peter during a drug patrol after he collected a bag later shown to contain marijuana. The indictment said he did not comply with police requests and the officers used pepper spray and knee kicks to the ribs and crotch to get him on the ground and handcuff him.

It said he continued to struggle as he was held face-down by officers for three minutes, until they noticed he appeared unconscious. Ben Peter was later pronounced dead after a heart attack.

+ Switzerland defends racism record at UN rights council

Protests and vandalism

Supporters of the victim’s family left the courtroom as the verdict was read out shouting “shame” and “scandal”. Shortly after, about 100 protesters entered the court building booing and shouting “assassin” at defence lawyers and police.

At the end of the verdict, the widow of Mike Ben Peter announced that she would not be giving up and that she would “come back” before the courts. 

During the trial, Ntah hinted that he would appeal, even referring to the European Court of Human Rights.

Over the weekend, the Palais de Justice building, the seat of the Lausanne district court, was vandalised. The front door was sprayed with white paint, while the words “RIP” and “Mike” were spray-painted in red at the bottom of the stairs.

Ben Peter’s death led to protests calling for police reform, although defence lawyers dismissed the comparison with the case of George Floyd, who died in police custody in the US in 2020.

A group of United Nations experts said last year there was systemic racism in Switzerland in a report that raised serious concerns about “excessive use of force and the expectation of impunity by police” and cited this case. A Swiss government-mandated study acknowledged racism was structural.