Switzerland: Allegations of ill-treatment in police custody

This document describes AI’s concerns about alleged use of physical violence by police against detainees. Many cases involve foreigners and Swiss citizens of non-European descent. A high proportion concern the Canton of Geneva. The following cases of alleged ill-treatment are described: 28-year-old Guinean asylum-seeker Bruno Traore in August 1990; Portugese citizen Joao Manuel Coelho Ribeiro in May 1991; Francois Bellil, a French citizen of North African descent, in June 1991; Beat Schatti, a curator at Geneva’s Natural History Museum, in October 1991; Sidat Sisay, a Gambian aid worker in January 1993; Patricia Schweizer, described by the press as a prostitute, in March 1993, Geneva; a 58-year-old woman with partial hearing in April 1993; architect Michel Acquaroli, April 1993; Hamid G., Algerian, January 1994; Erak Svetlo, a Bosnian, in January 1994; Trevor Kitchen, a British citizen, in December 1992; B., an Angolan national, January 1993; A.B., a Swiss citizen of Moroccan origin, July 1993; and S.B., an Algerian asylum-seeker, February 1994.

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