Sperisen challenges Switzerland over 14-year legal proceedings

More than 14 years of legal proceedings have brought Erwin Sperisen back before Europe’s top human rights court. The former Guatemalan police chief has filed a fresh application against Switzerland at the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the length of the case violates his right to a trial within a reasonable time.

The new challenge follows a September 2024 conviction by Geneva courts. Judges sentenced the 56-year-old to 14 years in prison for complicity in the killing of seven prisoners in Guatemala. His appeal has been before Switzerland’s Federal Court for more than 20 months, according to his lawyers.

The Federal Court has yet to rule on the appeal, leaving the Geneva judgment unresolved. The Strasbourg application therefore adds a separate human rights dispute to a criminal case that has already passed through several Swiss proceedings and international scrutiny.

Sperisen’s case carries particular weight in Switzerland because he is a dual Swiss and Guatemalan national who sought refuge in the country with his family in 2007. He was arrested in Geneva in 2012. Since then, Geneva courts have tried him four times, convicting him on each occasion, according to the Swissinfo report.

The latest conviction has been waiting for a ruling in Bern for more than 20 months. Sperisen’s lawyers say that delay forms part of a wider pattern that has kept the criminal case alive for over 14 years.

The defence is challenging the September 2024 Geneva verdict before the Federal Court. It says the judgment amounts to “an abuse of power” and has criticised the Swiss process on procedural grounds. The appeal remains pending, so the conviction has not reached a final resolution in Switzerland.

The case has already required repeated hearings in Geneva. Each retrial has kept the allegations concerning Guatemala’s prison killings in the Swiss courts, despite changes in the legal record and earlier rulings. The latest judgment again found Sperisen guilty of complicity, a finding he contests.

Under the European Convention on Human Rights, defendants have the right to a hearing within a reasonable time. Strasbourg will have to assess the new complaint under its own procedures. The court’s involvement does not replace the Federal Court’s role in deciding the criminal appeal, and the available information does not indicate when either process will conclude.

The Geneva proceedings link Swiss criminal law to violence from Guatemala’s past. Sperisen served as Guatemala’s police chief before moving to Switzerland, where the courts examined his alleged role in the deaths of prisoners. The latest case concerned the killing of seven inmates and ended with a 14-year sentence for complicity.

The defence has pointed to a different outcome for other people connected to the case. Sperisen’s lawyers say all of his co-defendants were acquitted or had their cases dismissed by foreign courts. They cite former subordinate Javier Figueroa, who was acquitted in Austria 13 years ago.

That comparison is central to the defence’s argument. Geneva judges convicted Sperisen in 2024 even though, according to his lawyers, the person they describe as the direct perpetrator had been acquitted abroad. The lawyers called their client “the accomplice of an acquitted person”.

The Swiss courts have nevertheless reached their own conclusions after repeated proceedings. The case illustrates the legal complications that arise when alleged crimes committed abroad are prosecuted in Switzerland, particularly where evidence, witnesses and earlier judgments are spread across several jurisdictions.