Swiss top cop suspended over love affair

Switzerland's top policeman was suspended from his duties this week over a love affair, as authorities found that his ex-partner, a woman of Russian origin, could have posed a risk to his work.

Published: 30 September 2011 21:40 CEST

According to a federal administrative tribunal, Michael Perler, 42, was wrong to have asked officers to do a security check of his companion in 2010 and for taking her with him on a professional trip to Saint Petersburg.

He went to Russia to take part in a conference on the fight against the Russian mafia.

An internal investigation was launched after Swiss media reports last year about Perler taking the young woman with him to Russia.

Federal authorities in their report noted Perler’s naivety and irresponsibility. “He only followed his feelings,” the report said.

They underlined the sensitive role of a federal police chief given his access to confidential information, including domestic and foreign intelligence.

Perler, who became police chief in 2009, said he broke off with the woman and has appealed the administrative tribunal’s decision.

Perler’s duties will be carried out temporarily by his deputy, a justice ministry spokesman said.

According to the newspaper Tages Anzeiger, Perler’s ex-companion is a longtime resident of Switzerland and has Swiss nationality. She is a ski instructor at Saint Moritz where some of her clients are rich Russians on holiday.

She told the paper her relationship with Perler lasted a year.

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A Swiss appeals court confirmed Monday the acquittal of six police officers over the death of a Nigerian man, in a case that drew comparisons to George Floyd’s killing in the United States.

As with the lower court verdict a year ago acquitting the officers of negligent homicide in the case of Mike Ben Peter, Monday’s ruling sparked immediate protests and chants of “Shame!” outside the courthouse.

Around 80 people crowded outside the court, shouting: “Black lives matter!”, “Justice for Mike”, and “Police kill, the judiciary acquits!”

The 39-year-old Nigerian died following a violent arrest after he refused a police drug search in Lausanne in western Switzerland in early 2018.

In the encounter with the six police officers, he was pinned to the ground on his stomach. He died in hospital a few hours later after suffering a heart attack.

His death initially received little attention, but the global outcry over Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020 placed a bigger spotlight on the Swiss case.

During the first trial in June last year, a court in Lausanne ruled that the six officers involved in the incident could not be found guilty of negligent homicide.

The public prosecutor’s office also decided to drop the charges, referring in particular to forensic analyses that were unable to state with certainty that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.

After three days of hearings last week at the appeals court in Renens, near Lausanne, the three judges confirmed the lower court ruling, acquitting the officers of negligent homicide.

They also acquitted them on an additional charge of abusing their authority, brought by the lawyer of Ben Peter’s family, Simon Ntah.

As with during the first trial, the judges relied heavily on forensic expert testimony to reach their conclusion.

The experts testified that it was impossible to say for certain that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.