Federal Court confirms 14-year prison sentence for Erwin Sperisen
The Federal Court rejects Erwin Sperisen's appeal in its entirety. The conviction to 14 years for complicity in the murder of seven detainees in Guatemala is upheld.
Mon-Repos dismisses final appeal of former Guatemalan police chief
The Federal Court has wholly rejected Erwin Sperisen's appeal, according to Le Temps. In a ruling made public today, the Mon-Repos court upholds the 14-year prison sentence imposed by Geneva's justice system on the former head of Guatemala's national civil police, found guilty of complicity in the murder of seven detainees.
The high court dismisses any violation of the presumption of innocence and rejects the argument of arbitrary assessment of evidence by the cantonal court. The length of the sentence, set taking into account the exceptional length of the proceedings, is maintained. Mon-Repos attributes part of this length to the defence itself, which conducted, according to the ruling, a particularly fierce procedural battle.
On 12 September 2024, following a fourth trial, the Geneva cantonal court again condemned Sperisen for his participation in events at Pavon prison. This fourth trial had been made necessary by a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which had found a violation of the right to an impartial tribunal: the president of the court of appeal had made observations between two appeal trials in the context of her duties as detention judge.
For the Geneva cantonal judges, Sperisen had full knowledge of the actions of the commando sent to the prison. He had, in their view, adhered to the so-called "social cleansing" plan and contributed to concealing traces of the crimes committed there. A Swiss-Guatemalan national, he was directing Guatemala's national civil police at the time of the events.
The Federal Court's decision thus closes a judicial proceeding that will have spanned several decades of twists, annulments and referrals, without Sperisen's guilt ultimately being called into question by the supreme court.
Source: Le Temps