Alleged perpetrator of Winterthur attack resists - justice cannot access his cell phone

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• The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland cannot analyze the devices of the Winterthur knife attack suspect due to a pending unsealing.
• Federal prosecutor Stefan Blättler told the NZZ am Sonntag that this means that important information on possible contacts or a network is missing.
• He is therefore calling for adjustments, as sealing is increasingly becoming a problem.

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The Office of the Attorney General is unable to analyze the electronic devices of the alleged Winterthur stabber. The accused is resisting the search of his laptop and cell phone, and a decision by the compulsory measures court to unseal them is still pending. As federal prosecutor Stefan Blättler says in an interview with the "NZZ am Sonntag".

"We cannot currently see who he was in contact with before the crime or who he was in contact with and what was written there". For this reason, it is currently not possible to check whether there was a possible network in the background.

The man allegedly injured three people with a knife at Winterthur railroad station last week. The presumption of innocence applies until the legal conclusion of the proceedings.

Electronic devices are key pieces of evidence today, says Blättler in the NZZ am Sonntag. At the same time, sealing is a growing problem: "We have to find solutions on how to deal with this in the age of digitalization."

Rules are outdated

According to Blättler, the current rules date back to a time when criminal proceedings were still largely conducted in analog form. They are intended to prevent the use of specially protected data - such as attorney-client privilege.

In practice, however, this can lead to long delays. According to Blättler, there have already been proceedings that lasted several years.

In view of the potential dangers, the Attorney General is calling for adjustments. "But just imagine if we were still actively looking for people. For example, for accomplices who may also be prepared to use violence - and we are not allowed to evaluate the perpetrator's data," he said in the NZZ am Sonntag.

It would be conceivable, for example, to reverse the process and allow investigators to view the data more quickly - with exceptions for particularly protected content.