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CRIME

Wife killer denied jail release for sex change

Switzerland’s top court has refused a bid by a transsexual convicted of murdering his wife who sought to leave jail temporarily for a sex change operation and then continue his sentence in a prison for women.

Published: 20 December 2012 22:31 CET
Wife killer denied jail release for sex change
Switzerland's supreme court in Lausanne. Photo: Federal Administration

The supreme court on Wednesday released reasons for its decision to deny the appeal by the man who was sentenced by a Valais cantonal court to 11 years in jail on February 1st 2006 for murdering his spouse four years earlier.

He killed the woman in the apartment they shared in Sion because he could not accept her decision to separate from him, the ATS news service reported.

The man applied for a suspension of his jail sentence in November 2011 so he could have an operation to become a woman.

The request was turned down, although a psychiatrist from a Lausanne hospital diagnosed him as a transsexual.

In September 2011, by which time he had served half of his sentence, he again requested conditional release.

In March 2012, the criminal division of the Valais cantonal court rejected his demand for a conditional release.
 
In its decision, the Lausanne-based supreme court upheld the lower court’s decision noting that “transsexualism is not an illness so serious that it would necessitate a release for reasons of humanity”.

The court also found that conditions in jail were not an absolute impediment to his being treated for his transsexualism.

As well, it ruled that the man could wait until he is eligible for early release after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Convicted criminals can be eligible for conditional release after serving half of their sentence and a minimum of three months in “extraordinary cases”, the court said.

However, it said this was not one of them.

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CRIME

‘Your permit is invalid’: Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

Published: 26 April 2024 11:17 CEST
Updated: 2 May 2024 15:04 CEST
'Your permit is invalid': Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

A number of foreign nationals, especially in the German-speaking part of the country, have received an official-looking letter, purportedly from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) informing them that the Free Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”

Faced with enquiries from concerned recipients, SEM responded that the letter is fake, advising recipients to ignore it and, above all, not to click on the QR code on the top.

“Fake letters from the SEM have been circulating since the beginning of this week,” the immigration authority said on its website as well as on X (formerly Twitter).  

“The letter has no impact on the recipient’s  residence status,” SEM added.

Fake jobs, real threats

However, this is only the latest scam perpetrated in the name of SEM.

There have been others in the past.

For instance, many foreigners have also received emails from addresses swissimmigration@consultant or eu_immigration@consultant, that pretend to be the Swiss immigration authority.

“In most cases, a fictitious job in the hotel industry is offered, with the senders demanding payment of 300 to 1,000 euros for a permit in Switzerland and for health and accident insurance,” SEM reported.

The first clue that this email doesn’t come from  SEM, which is part of Switzerland’s government, is that it is asking for payment in euros. If the scammers were smarter, they’d demand Swiss francs.

“These e-mails do not come from the SEM and should be considered as an attempt at fraud,” the agency said. 

Extortion attempt

And a few years ago, a number of foreigners received emails coming allegedly from SEM, Swiss border control authorities, or even the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

They threatened to revoke the victim’s residence permit or even expel them from the country altogether if they didn’t pay a certain sum of money into an anonymous account.

Needless to say, no government authority would ever resort to blackmail or demand payment for such ‘services’.

So a good rule to remember (for foreigners and Swiss alike) is that if threats and pressure are involved, letters / emails / phone calls ( WhatsUp messages are more than likely scams.
 
READ ALSO: The common scams foreigners in Switzerland need to be aware of 

Don’t respond

SEM as well as police urge everyone contacted by scammers, by whatever means to:

  • Ignore these messages by hanging up the phone and / or deleting emails, moving them to the Spam folder
  • Never give out your credit card number or bank account information to people you don’t know
  • If you did give your card number, contact your credit card company immediately to have the card blocked. Likewise, if you gave out your banking details, get in touch with your bank.
  • In the event of threats of extortion attempts, consider filing a criminal complaint. You can search for police stations in your area on the Police website. 
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