"Preventing racist police violence" Nigerian sues Switzerland for racial profiling
Wilson A. from Nigeria is taking his case against alleged racial profiling in Zurich to the European Court of Human Rights - and wants to draw attention to racist police violence.
16.12.2025, 10:57
16.12.2025, 11:20
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- Wilson A. from Nigeria is taking an alleged case of racial profiling and police violence in Zurich to the European Court of Human Rights.
- He accuses the Swiss judiciary of ignoring institutional racism after all the police officers involved were acquitted.
- Switzerland had already been condemned by the ECtHR in 2024 in the Mohamed Wa Baile case for discriminatory police checks.
An alleged victim of racial profiling takes his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg. Wilson A. from Nigeria is said to have been assaulted by Zurich city police officers in 2009 because he resisted a check.
The now 52-year-old wanted to "prevent future cases of racial profiling and racist police violence", he announced on Tuesday. The Swiss justice system apparently does not want to tackle its own institutional racism.
This was triggered by an incident in October 2009, when Wilson A. was on the streetcar on his way home from a party with a friend who was also dark-skinned. A policeman and a policewoman demanded to see their IDs, according to Wilson A. solely because of the color of their skin.
Uncooperative and aggressive according to the police
The two police officers got off the bus with the men at the next stop, where a third police officer was already waiting. From this point on, the accounts differ widely.
According to Wilson A, the police officers pounced on him for no reason, pepper-sprayed him and hit him. According to the police officers, Wilson A. was uncooperative and aggressive from the start and attacked them. They therefore had to defend themselves and brought him to the ground and arrested him.
The police officers were charged, but were all acquitted by final judgment. In October, the Federal Supreme Court also acquitted the police officer who was waiting for his colleagues outside the streetcar and was responsible for the operation. In its ruling, the Federal Supreme Court criticized the lengthy duration of the proceedings, but nevertheless upheld the acquittal.
Not the first case in Strasbourg
This is not the first time that an identity check by the Zurich city police has become a case for the ECHR. Back in 2024, the Court of Human Rights found Switzerland guilty of discrimination. It upheld the complaint of Mohamed Wa Baile, who was to be checked at Zurich main station in 2015.
The Swiss national with Kenyan roots, who was working as an ETH librarian at the time, refused to show his ID or give his personal details. According to the ECtHR, this check and the subsequent legal proceedings violated the prohibition of discrimination, the right to respect for private and family life and the right to an effective remedy.
Consequences for the municipal police
The case surrounding Mohamed Wa Baile already had consequences for the municipal police even before the ruling from Strasbourg: In 2017, the police implemented various measures to prevent discrimination on the basis of skin color. For example, the reasons that justify a stop were clearly defined.
