The Court of La Côte in Nyon has just convicted two students of racial discrimination following messages posted on 1 January 2023 in a WhatsApp group linked to the University of Zurich.
Their content? Primarily antisemitic remarks, with references to Nazi ideology and the extermination of the Jewish people. The texts also included a xenophobic slogan and violent remarks directed at Chinese people.
The two men insisted that they did not subscribe to these views and that their messages were intended as humour. The court did not believe them. It handed the main defendant a ten-month prison sentence, suspended. He is expected to appeal. His associate received a fine equivalent to 75 daily penalty units (at 30 francs per day), also suspended. A third man, who had granted his two friends access to the university group, was acquitted.
