Federal Court: Naked body search and overnight detention in Lucerne were unlawful
The Federal Court has partially compensated a woman who was arrested at an unapproved rally in Lucerne in 2020. The body search conducted without clothing and the detention lasting more than 20 hours violated fundamental rights.
Federal Court: Naked body search and overnight detention in Lucerne were unlawful
The Federal Court has partially upheld the complaint of a woman who was taken into police custody in May 2020 at an unapproved assembly in Lucerne. The judges classified both the complete removal of clothing during the search and the detention lasting overnight as disproportionate. The woman was awarded compensation of 1,000 Swiss francs.
The then 65-year-old woman was checked by police officers on Saturday, 30 May 2020, at the edge of an unapproved gathering at the railway station square. When she resisted the police action, the officers took her into provisional custody. During transport to the police building, she bit a police officer on the forearm.
At the headquarters of the Lucerne police, two female police officers conducted a body search during which the woman had to remove all her clothing. In the process, one side of her body was covered at a time and the intimate area was not touched. The following morning at 10.50 a.m., she was released after questioning.
The Lucerne cantonal court had rejected the woman's complaint in 2025. The Federal Court, however, reached a different conclusion. A body search with complete removal of clothing is only justified if there are concrete indications of hidden dangerous objects that cannot be found by patting down over clothing. For the detained woman, no such indications existed. Her behaviour after arrest did not change this.
The federal judges also assessed the detention lasting more than 20 hours as an excessive interference with freedom of movement. Since it was already clear on Saturday that questioning could only take place on Sunday, the woman should have been released and summoned for a later interrogation.
The compensation of 1,000 Swiss francs takes into account the inappropriate behaviour of the woman.
Source: strafrechtonline.ch
Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)