Collective Climate Justice block CS Bank in Zürich, Switzerland

July 8, 2019: around 100 climate activists occupy the entries to the Credit Suisse bank in Zürich during “climate action days” organized by “Collective Climate Justice” (July 2 to July 11, 2019). CS files a criminal complaint. 3 hours after the occupation begun, police begin clearing the occupation. 64 people were arrested, 51 receive penal orders and arrestees spent around 1-2 days in prison, with 1 activist spending 23 days in prison. The penal orders accused the activists of coercion (art. 181 Swiss Criminal Code, CC) and unlawful entry (art. 186 CC). The sanctions amounted to 60-90 daily penalty unites (Tagessätze) with a suspension period of 2 years, plus fines (Busse). 9 activists file a rejection to the penal order and appear in a district court. Initially, the prosecutor refuses the request to join the individual cases to a collective trial, but later accepts the request. The district court condemned the defendants in line with the penal order (art. 181 and 186 CC) and 30-40 daily penalty unites (Bezirksgericht Zürich GG200191, 14.5.2021). The activists appealed to a second instance court which confirmed the conviction with higher (40-60) daily penalty units (Obergericht Zürich SB210390, 18.11.2022). The activists then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court and are awaiting a decision (as of May 7, 2024). In Switzerland, the conviction of coercion is usually suspended for 2 years unless the defendant violates the terms. In this case, coercion leads to a criminal record. [In a parallel case in Basel where activists occupied a UBS branch on the same day, the court of first instance acquitted the defendants (rejecting the main charge of coercion) and the prosecutor did not appeal against the acquittal (due to a lack of appeal, no written judgement was issued). In a separate trial, the activists who were subjected to police identification measures (Art. 260 Swiss Criminal Procedure Code, CPC) and non-invasive samples and DNA analysis (Art. 255 CPC) appealed against these measures with the prosecutor rejecting the appeal and subsequently with the court of appeals that also rejected the appeal (Basel-Stadt Appelationsgericht BES.2019.150, 20.3.2020). The activists then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgericht) and their appeal was accepted. This effectively nullified the police measures of identification and DNA profiling (Bundesgericht 1B_285/2000 - leading case, 1B_286 & 294/2000, 1B_287 & 293/2020, 22.4.2021).]