6 years in prison for the groom Suspicious registrar prevents forced marriage
An appointment at the civil registry office in Dietikon set the ball rolling: The frightened bride made the official suspicious - she sensed a forced marriage. Three years later, the groom is convicted.
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- A suspicious registrar in Dietikon suspects a forced marriage during an appointment with the couple and delays the wedding ceremony.
- In the end, she informs the police.
- The groom was sentenced by the Dietikon district court for rape, multiple threats, multiple assaults and attempted forced marriage.
- He has to serve six years in prison and is banned from the country for ten years.
It is a winter's day in December 2022, a couple is sitting at the civil registry office in Dietikon ZH. But the clerk notices that something is wrong. The bride looks anxious and trembles, not saying a word.
The suspicious registrar demands a one-on-one interview with the bride. "Don't you dare say anything," the French-Kosovar dual national says to the bride in Albanian. This is according to the indictment from the public prosecutor's office, as reported by the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" (paid content).
In the one-on-one conversation with the civil registrar, the bride opens up. She is basically a modern woman and does not want to wear a headscarf. But she is under pressure from her partner and does not want to get married. She is afraid of her partner, the woman confides to the registrar. He had already broken one of her fingers.
The registrar repeatedly delays the wedding ceremony and also speaks to the groom. When her suspicions were confirmed, she finally informed the police.
Man denies all allegations
In July 2023, the man is arrested for domestic violence. According to the indictment, the man is accused of rape, multiple threats, multiple assaults and a serious traffic offense between spring 2021 and July 2023. He is also accused of attempted forced marriage.
In the trial before the Dietikon district court, the man denied all the allegations. His then fiancée had fabricated the allegations and also manipulated photos. Because he now had a new partner, the woman now wanted to destroy his life out of jealousy. In truth, the forced marriage was the other way around. The bride and her mother had urged him to get married.
6 years in prison
However, this did not hold up in court. The man was ultimately found guilty on all charges. He was sentenced to six years' imprisonment and a conditional fine of 55 daily rates of CHF 30 each. In addition, the man is banned from the country for 10 years and must pay the woman 15,000 francs in compensation and around 2,100 francs in damages.
When asked by the "NZZ", the presiding judge explained that the court had found the victim's statements in combination with the other evidence to be credible. The defendant's statements would not have changed this.
