Swiss court upholds citizenship revocation despite statelessness risk

A Swiss court has cleared the way for a rare and consequential citizenship removal. The Federal Administrative Court upheld the denaturalisation of a 36-year-old man who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and became Swiss as a child. A French court later sentenced him to several years in prison for helping prepare terrorist acts.

The French case centred on his work for Islamic State. He ran propaganda channels and recruited new members for the organisation. After the French judgment, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Migration, known as SEM, opened separate proceedings in consultation with the authorities in Aargau. It argued that his conduct constituted a serious offence and caused substantial damage to Switzerland’s reputation.

The decision matters because the man warned that revocation could leave him without any nationality. He said he was no longer Bosnian, making Swiss citizenship his last recognised nationality. The Federal Administrative Court nevertheless found that the security interests behind the removal outweighed the interference with his private and family life.

The ruling remains open to appeal before the Federal Supreme Court. Until that process ends, the case sets a powerful indication of how Swiss authorities may treat naturalised citizens convicted of terrorism-related offences.