Attack on Turkish Consulate: Left-wing extremist acquitted

It was January 18, 2017, when suddenly rockets hissed through the darkness and ricocheted off the facade of the Turkish Consulate General in Zurich. A window broke during the attack, and the perpetrators fled. Property damage: 1,200 francs.

After the crime, a letter of confession appeared from left-wing extremist circles. And on a wooden stick from the projectiles, the investigators found DNA traces of a person well known to the judiciary. By Andrea Stauffacher, the eternal revolutionary and well-known exponent of the revolutionary construction of Switzerland.

The 72-year-old has many nicknames, most of which are rather unflattering. “Riotous grandmother”, “old-timer of the class struggle”, “the most dangerous woman in Switzerland”: Stauffacher has been fighting for the communist revolution for over fifty years.

But also with rockets against unpopular consulates? The DNA on the wooden stick was the only concrete evidence that the Zurich left-wing extremist was involved in the act. The staff served as a launcher for the fireworks.

A body of evidence that even the federal prosecutor described as somewhat poor. However, the first instance at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona considered this, in combination with other circumstantial evidence, to be sufficient proof that Stauffacher was involved in the crime. It sentenced her to 14 months in prison in November 2021.

Criminal offense: complicity in endangering with explosives and toxic gases with criminal intent. The prison sentence fell out because of the many previous convictions. The conclusion of the court chairman at the time was: “This attack is reprehensible and inexcusable.”

As further evidence, the judge also mentioned the well-known modus operandi, which bore the signature of the revolutionary construction. The social worker had already been convicted of a similar attack on the Spanish Consulate General in 2002. The court also held that Stauffacher was an obvious critic of the policies of the Turkish state.

Alternative scenarios are also conceivable

But now things are different: the appeals chamber of the Federal Criminal Court overturned the first-instance verdict and acquitted Andrea Stauffacher of the accusation of being an accomplice in committing an explosives offense – in dubio pro reo due to insufficient evidence.

As the court states in a statement, the Court of Appeal believes that the evidence collected by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office is not sufficient to prove Stauffacher’s involvement in the crime. According to the court, other alternative scenarios are also conceivable. Precisely because Stauffacher is active in radical left-wing circles, she could have come into contact with the wooden stick independently of the attack.

The firing device used did not necessarily require special know-how, which only the 71-year-old had. Her political leanings alone, her behavior during the trial and her past did not allow her to be held criminally responsible for the misconduct of her like-minded people. “All in all, there is a lack of legally sufficient evidence for a guilty verdict,” notes the Appeals Chamber.

A political verdict?

In its judgment, the Appeal Chamber also points out that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office initially wanted to drop the investigation because of the difficult evidence. However, the Turkish consulate general did not let this sit on its own. Complaints were lodged twice. The second time it worked, the federal prosecutor finally had to file charges.

A circumstance that prompted the defense of Stauffacher to speak of a politically motivated charge. The Revolutionary Construction also spoke up on Monday with similar content. On their website, the left-wing extremists stated that Stauffacher had been sentenced in the first instance without any solid evidence, and that the decision was therefore politically driven. “This made the solidarity between the Turkish state, which as the driving force forced the process in the first place, and the Swiss state, which welcomed this impulse, concrete.”

The case is not yet closed with the judgment of October 12th. An appeal can still be lodged with the Federal Supreme Court against the decision of the Appeals Chamber. Andrea Stauffacher only accepted the guilty verdicts that were pronounced in the first instance in a few minor points. She was fined and fined for doing so.

Judgment CA 2022. 4 of October 12, 2022, not yet legally binding.