Death penalty in Switzerland

Swiss Politics – Popular Initiative Against the Death Penalty

100,000 signatures will be needed to secure a vote at the federal level. The initiators, represented by Marcel Graf, are reportedly relatives of a victim of a "rapist murderer".

"According to the text of the initiative, those convicted of murder involving sexual violence should be executed within three months of their trial. The method of execution is not predetermined. The court should choose the killing technique."

Before a popular vote can be held, parliament will have to consider the issue, as this initiative contradicts Protocols 6 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which Switzerland has ratified. This initiative could therefore be overturned in advance by Swiss signatures to international conventions.

Amnesty International unequivocally opposes the death penalty.

NO… I can't believe it. How could our country return to this practice, which we know doesn't make humanity any better? Personally, I'd like to know if those who initiated it would be willing to do the executioner's work, to press the button or put the noose around the condemned. Personally, I could never do that job, and those who want to bring back this practice should ask themselves that question.

Switzerland abolished this drastic measure in 1942; the last person sentenced to death was Hans Vollenweider, who was executed in Sarnen in 1940 by guillotine. He was a repeat offender who had killed several people (3, if I'm not mistaken).

The death penalty was abolished from military criminal law only in 1992.

Current legal text:

The death penalty is prohibited in the Federal Constitution: Art. 10, Right to life and personal liberty: “Every human being has the right to life. The death penalty is prohibited.”