Trial/Court Public prosecutor demands custody in Basel murder trial
In the murder trial in Basel on Wednesday, the public prosecutor's office called for the accused to be kept in custody. He had committed the offense of murder, but was not guilty.
17.12.2025, 08:39
17.12.2025, 15:15
SDA
"First of all, I would like to express my condolences to the relatives," the public prosecutor began his plea. "The crime was so bestial that it constitutes murder. It must be connected to a delusional system and cannot be understood," he continued. However, because the crime was committed in a delusional state, the defendant was not guilty.
As a result, the public prosecutor's office was faced with the question of what to do with the accused. It argued in favor of ordinary custody.
This is imposed on persons who have committed a crime with a threatened maximum sentence of five years and have seriously harmed a person and who are at risk of reoffending due to their life circumstances or a mental illness. It must be reviewed annually by the competent authority.
No inpatient measure, no life imprisonment
According to the public prosecutor, the conditions for inpatient treatment are not met. "He can only be treated if he is prepared to talk about his delusional system on his own initiative," it said in reference to the psychiatric report. This has not yet been the case.
However, there was no basis for life imprisonment. "The present expert opinion cannot rule out the possibility that the accused will not be able to receive therapy in the future," explained the public prosecutor. Therefore, this option is also not indicated.
The public prosecutor's office accuses the man of killing a 75-year-old woman with a knife on Nasenweg in Basel in August 2024. He had already killed two people in the same neighborhood in 2014. Because he was on release from a psychiatric ward when he committed the crime last year despite the previous double murder, the case caused a major public stir.
