After a mass brawl in Zurich, a hooligan was punished with expulsion from the country. The Supreme Court has now confirmed this – although it is a case of hardship.
The Prime Tower was the scene of one of the wildest fights among Zurich football fans.
Violence is a constant companion of the Zurich fan scene. It’s been a little quieter lately – perhaps because the FCZ supporters have little frustration to deal with in view of footballing successes and championship celebrations. The other, ugly side of fan culture was the subject of Wednesday’s High Court in Zurich: the mass brawl at the Prime Tower was being negotiated. The pictures from February 2018 shocked the public, such behavior had rarely been seen in Switzerland.
FCZ hooligans attacked GC fans at Hardbrücke station before the cup game between the two teams. Surveillance footage showed a thug beating a man who was lying unconscious on the ground with his leg. For this act, the Syrian Kurd was severely punished by the Zurich District Court in spring 2021 – 28 months in prison and 7 years of expulsion from the country.
Daily cocaine
At the trial in spring 2021, the accused remained silent on the court’s questions. Well, in the Supreme Court, he talks. However, the accused does not have much to report about the incident at the Prime Tower. It was a long time ago and he was completely “dumbed” at the time. At that time he used cocaine every day. What is undisputed is that he is the one who can be seen in the pictures.
The man says his last memory is of meeting FCZ fans before the game. There are always some who are in contact with other fans. “You hear: ‘Hey, it’s knocking later.’ Then you drink properly, you drink your fear away.” The presiding judge wants to know whether he was a kind of boss. He denies: Everyone is equal in the south curve, everyone is their own boss.
A surveillance camera at Zurich’s Prime Tower films the attack on GC fans. The accused is not visible in this excerpt.
Did he feel cool back then, after the attack? He suspects that “we left the field as winners”. But today he is ashamed and sorry for the sacrifice. “It’s a cowardly act.” Even among football fans, something like that doesn’t go down well, “you’re a rag, we say there”. And it’s not the goal to decimate your opponents. “I’m happy for every Grasshopper fan who fought against me.”
Unlike in the district court, the accused also talks about his childhood and youth. He came to Switzerland from Syria at the age of three and grew up under difficult family conditions. Father and mother were forced into marriage, after their separation the father set a contract killer on the mother; the act failed. The children also suffered: Among other things, they were kidnapped and locked in a cellar. The mother suffered from psychological problems, the four children grew up in homes and with foster parents. The accused was the youngest child. Unlike his siblings, he dropped out of school and has not learned a trade.
He found support in the football scene. The fan scene is a surrogate family, he says. He doesn’t know anyone in his environment who doesn’t sympathize with the FCZ. “I had a broken youth and didn’t feel welcome in Switzerland. In the south curve you are part of something. You don’t have to explain yourself. I just felt really good.”
If things go well for him in court, he will still turn his back on Zurich, he says. There is too much “heckmeck” here, there is a risk that he will do stupid things again. On the other hand, he would be completely lost if he had to return to Syria. His entire family had emigrated, he could hardly speak Kurdish, and he was a Yazidi and not a Muslim.
The defense is trying to reduce the sentence from 28 to 6 months imprisonment: It is not a matter of serious but of light attempted bodily harm. If you look closely, you can see that it was not a kick with a swinging movement against the head. Rather, the accused brakes the movement. It was a pounding, not against the head, but against the shoulder.
It is also not clear whether the accused knew that the man on the ground was unconscious. Rather, the mass brawl was about making sure that he no longer posed a threat to his own group. One could speak of a “control kick”. It is unclear whether anyone was harmed at all. None of the victims filed a complaint. However, this does not matter in the case of attempted bodily harm.
An almost identical incident in Basel
The public prosecutor’s office is brief. The video images speak for themselves, there is a confession. It was pure luck that the victim was not seriously injured.
What does not make things easier from the point of view of the defense: The accused was sentenced by the criminal court of Basel-Stadt for an almost identical offense. At that time, too, it was about violence at a football game, and the accused kicked a defenseless person in the head. That’s why the man is currently in prison. This opened his eyes, he says. “I’m in prison with people who have deliberately murdered.” He, on the other hand, exaggerated and behaved stupidly. He must be punished, but with moderation.
The Basel case is ultimately the reason why the higher court essentially supports the judgment of the lower court, even if the prison sentence is reduced from 28 to 20 months – due to the suspect’s difficult biography and because he has behaved well since the crime. The court lowered the expulsion from the country from 7 to 6 years, which, however, did little to change the verdict. It is unclear whether the deportation can be carried out.
Attempted grievous bodily harm is a crime that automatically results in expulsion from the country. The court can make exceptions. He is undoubtedly a case of hardship, says the chairman to the accused – a typical Secondo, a Zurich resident, but without a Swiss passport. But for an exception, the public interest also plays a role. And it was too much that he twice, especially as a grown man, beat defenseless people with his feet. “Your biography touched us. Your actions have deterred us.” The accused still has to go to the federal court.
Judgment SB210501 of 5/11/22, not yet final.