Brian has to remain in custody

He was only to be released after more than five years in pre-trial and preventive detention. Then he was kept in prison at the last moment – and that’s where he’s staying for the time being.

The Zurich High Court has confirmed the pre-trial detention that the Zurich compulsory measures court ordered a few weeks ago for Brian, probably the most well-known criminal in Switzerland. The reason given by the Supreme Court is that Brian tends to behave aggressively in stressful situations and that he has a criminal record for attempted grievous bodily harm.

“There is therefore a serious risk that if he is released from prison, he could commit serious bodily harm again,” the court wrote in a statement.

Controversial opinion applies

Brian and his lawyers had always denied that there was a risk of recurrence and had therefore challenged the detention decision in the Supreme Court. After the decision that has now become public, they express their disappointment. The lawyer Philip Stolkin: “With this imprisonment, the Zurich judiciary is again taking Brian any chance of a life in freedom.”

Brian is charged with 33 crimes, all of which he is said to have committed in prison. It is about a case of attempted serious bodily harm and several cases of simple bodily harm, verbal abuse, property damage as well as violence and threats against authorities and officials.

Brian’s lawyers contended that their client committed the alleged offenses in an exceptional situation, as he spent almost all of his time in solitary confinement, under conditions criticized by the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture, among others.

According to the attorneys at liberty, there is no risk of recurrence, since the incidents in question (if any) all took place behind bars and were specifically aimed at wardens.

The Supreme Court now sees it differently. According to the court, the verdict was based on the last forensic-psychiatric assessment from 2019. This had certified Brian a mental disorder and an unfavorable relapse prognosis. The report was sharply criticized by Brian’s lawyers because it was not based on discussions with him, but solely on files.

The Supreme Court also reacted to this: It instructed the public prosecutor’s office to immediately obtain a supplementary assessment of the risk of recidivism from the expert. Lawyer Bernard Rambert is not satisfied with this: “Once again, the judiciary does not take its responsibility and pushes it off to biased psychiatrists.”

Improvement brought nothing

Until the new assessment is available, Brian is to remain in custody. This despite the fact that he has been imprisoned for more than five years without a valid conviction. And although he has been quiet since the beginning of the year, which the Supreme Court also gives him credit for. Brian has been in relaxed prison conditions in Zurich prison since January, after being released from solitary confinement by the federal court.

However, the judgment of the Supreme Court does not have the last word in the Brian case. Brian’s lawyers have already announced that they will appeal the arrest decision to federal court.

They are particularly critical of the actions of the public prosecutor. At the end of October, the Supreme Court ordered Brian’s release as part of another trial. As soon as this became known, the public prosecutor’s office applied for remand in custody again because of the proceedings relating to the incidents in Pöschwies.

Brian’s lawyer Bernard Rambert said at the time: “You should explain that to a person: He will be released – and yet he will remain in prison.”

A power struggle

The story of Brian – once known by the alias “Carlos” – is the story of a tightrope between himself and the judiciary. Already as a teenager Brian was locked up several times, later a special setting for the juvenile delinquent became a media scandal. Brian has multiple criminal records.

During his time in the Pöschwies prison from 2017, the conflict between him and the guards escalated rapidly. In 2019, the most serious incident occurred, for which he is currently in custody: he throws a piece of glass in the direction of a supervisor, which hits his head and leaves two small cuts.

Brian enters it as the most serious of the offenses now against him.

Brian and his lawyers claimed that he was provoked by the guards in prison and was almost driven out of his mind by the “inhuman prison conditions”. The supervisors and the public prosecutor’s office countered that he threatened her with death, repeatedly insulted and attacked her.

“Why did you attack us?”

One thing is certain: While several proceedings are pending against Brian, his defense attorneys have also been trying to initiate such proceedings against the supervisors for a long time. Some of these tried with great physical effort to bring him under control – which, given their superiority, was always successful.

An exchange between Brian and his guards, which is documented in the case files, shows how complicated the situation in Pöschwies prison was.

Brian: «Why do I have a black eye and a swollen arm?» – Warden: «Why did you attack us?»

One day a court will have to decide which of the two sides is right. Until then, Brian remains a victim of justice for some and a dangerous repeat offender for others. And after the most recent court decision, he will probably remain where his struggles of the last few years took place: in prison.