A court in Bali has sentenced a Swiss tourist to a year in prison for insulting Nyepi, the Indonesian island’s sacred Hindu Day of Silence.
The 26-year-old was convicted on Thursday, August 20, 2026 under Indonesia’s new criminal code after posting messages on social media mocking the observance, during which residents and visitors are expected to remain indoors, keep noise to a minimum and devote the day to reflection.
In one since-deleted post, he wrote: “Fuck Nyepi day and fuck your rules too,” as he headed to the beach.
The Denpasar district court found that he had posted the messages despite being told about the restrictions by staff at the villa where he was staying.
Nyepi, which usually falls in March, brings Bali almost to a standstill for 24 hours. Beaches and streets are deserted except for patrols enforcing the restrictions. The island’s airport closes and internet services are curtailed. The rules apply to everyone, regardless of religion or nationality.
The Swiss tourist boasted on Instagram that he had defied rules barring residents and tourists from leaving their homes or accommodation except in emergencies. In videos circulated online, he smiled at the camera as he described walking to a beach. In one clip he called the tradition “crazy”.
The posts were widely shared and prompted condemnation from Balinese residents, who regarded them as disrespectful. After receiving complaints, the authorities traced the man to a villa in Legian, a tourist district near Kuta Beach, and arrested him.
At his trial, which began in June, he said he had not intended to insult either Hinduism or the Balinese people. He said he had been hungry and frustrated because he could not obtain food during the shutdown, and had not understood the full extent of the restrictions.
“I deeply regret what I did. I apologise to the Balinese people,” he told the court in his plea for leniency.
Foreign and Indonesian tourists have previously been detained for venturing outside during Nyepi, but such cases have generally been settled without prosecution.
Bali is Indonesia’s only Hindu-majority province. Its distinctive religious culture was reinforced after the decline of Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms in Java and the spread of Islam there between roughly the 13th and 16th centuries. Bali subsequently became a stronghold of Javanese Hindu-Buddhist traditions, which blended with older local beliefs and practices.
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