In November 2018, climate activists wearing sports clothes and wigs simultaneously staged tennis matches in local branches of Credit Suisse in Lausanne, Basel and Geneva to protest the bank's fossil fuel investments and pressure tennis star Roger Federer to end his sponsorship arrangement with the institution. Whereas in Geneva and Basel the activists got away with it, the activists from the collective “Lausanne Action Climat” were charged with trespassing and fined 21,600 Swiss Francs ($22,000) on the grounds of unlawful entry (art. 186 CC), prevention of an official act (art. 286 CC) and various violations of local police reglementation. January 13, 2020, Judge Philippe Colelough concluded on appeal that the activists had acted proportionately to the imminence of climate danger and waived the fine. He wrote, "Because of the insufficient measures taken to date in Switzerland, whether they be economic or political, the average warming will not diminish nor even stabilize, it will increase," the judge explained. "In view of this, the tribunal considers that the imminence of danger is established. . . . The act for which they were incriminated was a necessary and proportional means to achieve the goal they sought." 

The acquittal was overturned by the Swiss Court of Appeals in Renens on September 22, 2020. The Court convicted the defendants and ordered them to pay fines of up to 150 francs ($160). The Court reasoned that although the danger from climate change is imminent, the protesters could have used other means to protest against the bank and had thus violated the absolute subsidiarity principle.

The third instance confirmed in substance the cantonal judges’ decision. In a ruling that is shaping other criminal trials of Swiss climate activists to this day, the court opposed the application of a state of necessity to the case, arguing that climate change could not be understood as an “imminent danger” in the sense of the law, nor that it threatened the individual legal assets of the activists. The judges also dismissed the application of articles 10 & 11 CEDH (freedoms of expression and assembly) since the protest took place on private property of the bank.

After this key decision by the Supreme Court, further appeals and counterappeals have been exchanged between activists and their lawyers, and the prosecution. Essentially, the parties have been in disagreement as to whether the activists had hindered the police during the evacuation and whether the protest was protected under Art. 10 and 11 (freedom of expression and assembly) of the ECHR or not. As of the time of writing, the case is pending before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where the activists are challenging the Swiss government on the ground of the violation of their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

Credit Suisse Protesters Trials

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Credit Suisse Protesters Trials - judgment

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

People whose health, both mental and physical, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Credit Suisse Protesters Trials - judgment

Impacted group

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Finance