Anni Lanz, a 74 year old activist from Basel, was caught bringing a failed Afghan asylum seeker back to Switzerland in violation of Swiss law in February 2018.
The man, a former soldier from Afghanistan, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, found himself sleeping on the streets of Milan after his Swiss asylum application was rejected. The pair were stopped at the Swiss-Italian border in Gondo in February 2018.
A fine of CHF 800 imposed on Lanz by the authorities in Brig in December 2018, which was later unheld by a judge in Sion.
Lanz decided to appeal against the ruling but her appeal was recently rejected. She is now required to pay the CHF 800 fine and CHF 1,400 of costs.
The Federal Tribunal rejected the claim that Lanz’s actions occurred under a state of necessity and were therefore above the law. In addition, it decided the situation the man found himself in, while difficult, was not severe enough to fit the definition of the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment according to European Convention on Human Rights.
The judges also pointed out that the man had received follow up treatment in a clinic in Italy. In their view the original decision in Valais was neither untenable nor unreasonable.
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