A ‘neglectual homicide’ trial begins in Lausanne over the 2018 death of Mike Ben Peter, 39, from a heart attack during his arrest.
Six Swiss police officers appeared in court on Monday, charged in the death of a black man who suffered a fatal heart attack after being pinned down during an arrest, a case a lawyer compared to the death of George Floyd in the United States.
The officers, who were not named due to Swiss privacy laws, are charged with “murder by neglect” in the case of Mike Ben Peter, a 39-year-old Nigerian man before a criminal court in Lausanne.
All are contesting the charges and will seek acquittal, their lawyers said.
The case, which bears some resemblance to the May 2020 murder of Floyd in the US, is one of four black men killed in police interventions in the canton of Vaud since 2016.
They have sparked protests and calls for reform.
But unlike the Floyd murder, for which officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in 2021, based in part on cell phone footage of him kneeling on the victim’s neck, there is no footage of the incident that is said to have contributed to the death of Ben Peter.
Systemic racism
A group of experts from the United Nations said last year that Switzerland has systemic racism issues in a report that raised serious concerns about “excessive use of force and the expectation of police impunity” and cited the case.
A government-mandated study that has since been released admitted the problem was structural and said measures so far have been insufficient.
Simon Ntah, the family’s lawyer, said he was not hopeful of a verdict against the officers who face a maximum prison sentence of three years.
“As long as there is no mechanism for independent investigation against the police, we will have the same problems,” he told Reuters news agency. in charge of things like this.
The indictment revealed that Ben Peter caught the attention of officers on a drug patrol in Lausanne after collecting a bag that was later found to contain marijuana.
He did not comply with police requests and officers used pepper spray and kicks to his ribs and groin to handcuff him to the ground, it appeared.
He continued to struggle as he was held face down by several officers for three minutes, he said, until they noticed he appeared unconscious.
Ben Peter was later pronounced dead of a multi-cause heart attack, the indictment said, including being held on his stomach and subjected to stress.