On Wednesday, the Zurich district court sentenced two young people from Aargau, sister and brother, to conditional prison terms of 14 and 10 months.
“You should urgently reconsider your attitude to institutions and democracy,” said the judge to the two young people from Aargau, whose New Year’s Eve party in downtown Zurich ended with three injured police officers. You don’t have to enjoy the police, but you have to respect them.
Court follows prosecutor
The nurse (22) was sentenced to 14 months in prison with a probationary period of two years. Her brother (20), who is two years her junior and a prospective assembly electrician, was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a probationary period of three years. Both will also receive a conditional fine.
Both were convicted of assault, violence and threats against authorities and officials and obstruction of an official act. The sister also for simple physical harm. The court thus followed the prosecutor’s requests to a large extent. The verdict is not yet legally binding. You can take it further.
Hand fired fireworks
The sister thought that setting off fireworks in the middle of cars and houses near the main train station was a bad idea. But her brother was undeterred. Shortly after midnight, he released several rockets straight from his hand.
To see this, the group of revelers stepped outside from the boozy party in an apartment. The situation escalated when four civilian police officers tried to stop the dangerous private fireworks and carry out an identity check.
“Police officer was helpless at the mercy of kicks”
The brother ran away and was pinned to the ground by a policewoman. When his big sister saw this, she – dressed in a pink sequined dress and slippers – brutally attacked the police officer.
“Like a football”, the Aargau nurse and former footballer kicked the head of the police officer, the prosecutor said in his plea. “The policewoman was helplessly at the mercy of the kicks.” It was only by chance that she did not suffer a serious head injury such as a brain hemorrhage or a fractured skull.
Aargau woman had more alcohol than all men
Two other police officers didn’t fare much better: They were beaten and kicked by a group of about ten teenagers and young adults who showed solidarity. The indictment lists a number of abrasions and bruises.
At some point, the police, who had also been requested, were able to arrest the siblings and another person involved. An alcohol test showed that the accused woman from Aargau in the sequined dress had drunk more alcohol than all the men present.
“It was not me”
She herself emphasized that she had not misbehaved. “It wasn’t me,” she said in court. At the time of the crime she was in the apartment. However, witnesses clearly saw a woman in a pink dress kicking the officer.
In addition to the siblings, the police also arrested a minor who has to answer to the juvenile prosecutor. He initially confessed to the kicking, but later withdrew it.
“The red line has been massively exceeded”
For the lawyer of the kicked policewoman, “a red line was massively crossed this New Year’s Eve”. Police officers have also been victims of disrespect in the past, but today they are often confronted with frightening levels of violence.
In the present case, the police officers’ lawyers once again recognized a fundamentally negative attitude towards the police. According to witnesses, some of the group shouted “These are Zivis”, i.e. civilian police officers, before they struck. “Kill her.”