Attorney General warns "We must expect an increase in terrorist activities in Switzerland"

More and more terrorism cases are keeping the Attorney General busy. He warns that such activities are also likely to increase in Switzerland.

Currently, 120 terrorism proceedings are being conducted in Switzerland. As Attorney General Stefan Blätter said in an interview with theSonntagsZeitungand Le Matin Dimanche, this corresponds to a doubling of cases compared to 2022.

Most of them have a jihadist background. They involve terrorist propaganda on the internet, money flowing from Switzerland to terrorist organizations and people travelling to jihad. "There is a danger that these people will one day plan attacks themselves if they are not stopped by investigations," says Blättler.

The intelligence service and the Office of the Attorney General are constantly monitoring the situation. "We must expect terrorist activities in Switzerland to increase," says Blättler.

The impression that Switzerland has so far been spared compared to other countries such as Germany or France is misleading. Even if these have been comparatively small cases with isolated individual perpetrators, there have been incidents in Morges, Lugano and Zurich. "The attack in Magdeburg underlines once again that we have to be vigilant," continued the Attorney General.

Proceedings in Switzerland take a very long time. Among other things, this has to do with the sealing procedures. "If the data that is seized during house searches, for example, is blocked by the courts at the request of the accused, we cannot continue our work. Sometimes it takes years before we are allowed to continue," explains Blättler.

We are also often dependent on help from abroad. "Within Europe, this usually happens fairly quickly. Cooperation with other countries is often more difficult. In the worst case, we don't even get an acknowledgement of receipt."