Bei grossen Gesetzen wie OR und ZGB kann dies bis zu 30 Sekunden dauern

Title Three: Offences against Personal Honour and in Breach of Secrecy or Privacy

Art. 173  

1. Of­fence against per­son­al hon­our

De­fam­a­tion

 

1. Any per­son who in ad­dress­ing a third party, makes an ac­cus­a­tion against or casts sus­pi­cion on an­oth­er of dis­hon­our­able con­duct or of oth­er con­duct that is li­able to dam­age an­oth­er's repu­ta­tion,

any per­son who dis­sem­in­ates such ac­cus­a­tions or sus­pi­cions,

is li­able on com­plaint to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.2

2. If the ac­cused proves that the state­ment made or dis­sem­in­ated by him cor­res­ponds to the truth or that he had sub­stan­tial grounds to hold an hon­est be­lief that it was true, he is not li­able to a pen­alty.

3. The ac­cused is not per­mit­ted to lead evid­ence in sup­port of and is crim­in­ally li­able for state­ments that are made or dis­sem­in­ated with the primary in­ten­tion of ac­cus­ing someone of dis­rep­ut­able con­duct without there be­ing any pub­lic in­terest or any oth­er jus­ti­fied cause, and par­tic­u­larly where such state­ments refer to a per­son's private or fam­ily life.

4. If the of­fend­er re­cants his state­ment, the court may im­pose a more le­ni­ent pen­alty or no pen­alty at all.

5. If the ac­cused is un­able to prove the truth of his state­ment, or if it is shown to be un­true, or if the ac­cused re­cants his state­ment, the court must state this in its judg­ment or in an­oth­er doc­u­ment.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 1950, in force since 5 Jan. 1951 (AS 1951 1 16; BBl 1949 I 1249).
2 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Amend­ment to the Law on Crim­in­al Sanc­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2016 1249; BBl 2012 4721).

Art. 174  

Wil­ful de­fam­a­tion

 

1. A per­son in ad­dress­ing a third party, and know­ing his al­leg­a­tions to be un­true, makes an ac­cus­a­tion against or casts sus­pi­cion on an­oth­er of dis­hon­our­able con­duct, or of oth­er con­duct that is li­able to dam­age an­oth­er's repu­ta­tion,

any per­son who dis­sem­in­ates such ac­cus­a­tions or sus­pi­cions, know­ing them to be un­true,

is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. If the of­fend­er has ac­ted sys­tem­at­ic­ally to un­der­mine the good repu­ta­tion of an­oth­er, he is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty of not less than 30 daily pen­alty units.1

3. If the of­fend­er re­cants his state­ment be­fore the court on the grounds that it is un­true, the court may im­pose a more le­ni­ent pen­alty. The court must provide the per­son harmed with a doc­u­ment con­firm­ing the re­cant­a­tion.


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 175  

De­fam­a­tion of a de­ceased per­son or of a per­son miss­ing pre­sumed dead

 

1If the de­fam­a­tion, wheth­er wil­ful or not, is dir­ec­ted at a per­son who is de­ceased or who has been de­clared miss­ing pre­sumed dead, the re­l­at­ives of the de­ceased per­son or the per­son miss­ing pre­sumed dead are en­titled to ap­ply for pro­sec­u­tion.

2No of­fence is com­mit­ted if, at the time of the state­ment be­ing made, the de­ceased per­son has been dead or the miss­ing per­son miss­ing for more than 30 years.

Art. 176  

Gen­er­al pro­vi­sion

 

Verbal de­fam­a­tion, wheth­er wil­ful or not, is re­garded as the equi­val­ent of de­fam­at­ory state­ments made in writ­ing, in pic­tures, by ges­tures or in any oth­er man­ner.

Art. 177  

In­sult

 

1Any per­son who at­tacks the hon­our of an­oth­er verbally, in writ­ing, in pic­tures, through ges­tures or through acts of ag­gres­sion is li­able on com­plaint to a mon­et­ary pen­alty not ex­ceed­ing 90 daily pen­alty units.1

2If the in­sul­ted party has dir­ectly pro­voked the in­sult by im­prop­er be­ha­viour, the court may dis­pense with im­pos­ing a pen­alty on the of­fend­er.

3If there is an im­me­di­ate re­sponse to the in­sult by way of a re­tali­at­ory in­sult or act of ag­gres­sion, the court may dis­pense with im­pos­ing a pen­alty on either or both of­fend­ers.


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 178  

Lim­it­a­tion

 

1The right to pro­sec­ute mis­de­mean­ours against per­son­al hon­our is sub­ject to a lim­it­a­tion peri­od of four years.1

2Art­icle 31 ap­plies to the ex­piry of the right to file a com­plaint.2


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 22 March 2002 (Lim­it­a­tion of the Right to Pro­sec­ute), in force since 1 Oct. 2002 (AS 2002 2986 2988; BBl 2002 2673 1649).
2 Amended by No II 2 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 179  

2.1 Of­fences in breach of pri­vacy or secrecy

Breach of the pri­vacy of a sealed doc­u­ment

 

Any per­son who without au­thor­ity opens a sealed doc­u­ment or sealed mail in or­der to ob­tain know­ledge of its con­tent,

any per­son who dis­sem­in­ates or makes use of in­form­a­tion he has ob­tained by open­ing a sealed doc­u­ment or sealed mail that was not in­ten­ded for him,

is li­able on com­plaint to a fine.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 20 Dec. 1968, in force since 1 May 1969 (AS 1969 319 322; BBl 1968 I 585).

Art. 179bis  

Listen­ing in on and re­cord­ing the con­ver­sa­tions of oth­ers

 

Any per­son who by us­ing a listen­ing device and without the per­mis­sion of all those par­ti­cip­at­ing, listens in on a private con­ver­sa­tion between oth­er per­sons, or re­cords such a con­ver­sa­tion on a re­cord­ing device,

any per­son who makes use of in­form­a­tion that he knows or must as­sume has come to his know­ledge as the res­ult of an of­fence un­der the above para­graph or makes such in­form­a­tion known to a third party,

any per­son who stores or al­lows a third party ac­cess to a re­cord­ing that he knows or must as­sume has been made as the res­ult of an of­fence un­der para­graph 1 above,

is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 Dec. 1968, in force since 1 May 1969 (AS 1969 319 322; BBl 1968 I 585).

Art. 179ter  

Un­au­thor­ised re­cord­ing of con­ver­sa­tions

 

Any per­son who, as a par­ti­cipant in a private con­ver­sa­tion, re­cords the con­ver­sa­tion on a re­cord­ing device without the per­mis­sion of the oth­er par­ti­cipants,

any per­son who stores or makes use of a re­cord­ing, makes the re­cord­ing avail­able or dis­closes its con­tent to a third party when he knows or must as­sume that the re­cord­ing has been made as the res­ult of an of­fence un­der para­graph 1 above,

is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing one year or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.2


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 Dec. 1968, in force since 1 May 1969 (AS 1969 319 322; BBl 1968 I 585).
2 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 179quater  

Breach of secrecy or pri­vacy through the use of an im­age-car­ry­ing device

 

Any per­son who ob­serves with a re­cord­ing device or re­cords with an im­age-car­ry­ing device in­form­a­tion from the secret do­main of an­oth­er or in­form­a­tion which is not auto­mat­ic­ally ac­cess­ible from the private do­main of an­oth­er,

any per­son who makes use of in­form­a­tion or makes in­form­a­tion known to a third party, which he knows or must as­sume has been pro­duced as a res­ult of an of­fence un­der para­graph 1 above,

any per­son who stores or al­lows a third party ac­cess to a re­cord­ing that he knows or must as­sume has been made as the res­ult of an of­fence un­der para­graph 1 above,

is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 Dec. 1968, in force since 1 May 1969 (AS 1969 319 322; BBl 1968 I 585).

Art. 179quinquies  

Leg­al re­cord­ings

 

1Per­sons who as par­ti­cipants in the con­ver­sa­tion or sub­scribers to a par­ti­cip­at­ing line re­cord calls:

a.
with the emer­gency, res­cue or se­cur­ity ser­vices; or
b.
in the course of busi­ness that have or­ders, as­sign­ments, re­ser­va­tions and sim­il­ar trans­ac­tions as their sub­ject mat­ter.

are not li­able to a pen­alty un­der Art­icle 179bis para­graph 1 or Art­icle 179ter para­graph 1.

2Art­icle 179bis para­graphs 2 and 3 and 179ter para­graph 2 ap­ply by ana­logy to the use of re­cord­ings in ac­cord­ance with para­graph 1 above.


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 Dec. 1968 (AS 1969 319; BBl 1968 I 585). Amended by No I of the FA of 3 Oct. 2003, in force since 1 March 2004 (AS 2004 823 824; BBl 2001 2632 5816).

Art. 179sexies  

Mar­ket­ing and pro­mo­tion of devices for un­law­ful listen­ing or sound or im­age re­cord­ing

 

1. Any per­son who man­u­fac­tures, im­ports, ex­ports, ac­quires, stores, pos­sesses, trans­ports, passes on to an­oth­er, sells, leases, lends or in any oth­er man­ner mar­kets, pro­motes or provides in­struc­tion on the man­u­fac­ture of tech­nic­al devices which are in par­tic­u­lar in­ten­ded for un­law­ful listen­ing or the un­law­ful mak­ing of sound or im­age re­cord­ings,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. If the of­fend­er acts on be­half of a third party, that third party is li­able to the same pen­alty as the of­fend­er provided he was aware that the of­fence was be­ing com­mit­ted and failed to use his best ef­forts to pre­vent the com­mis­sion of the of­fence.

If the third party is a leg­al en­tity, a gen­er­al or lim­ited part­ner­ship or a sole pro­pri­et­or­ship2, para­graph 1 above ap­plies to those per­sons who ac­ted or should have ac­ted on be­half of that en­tity.


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 Dec. 1968, in force since 1 May 1969 (AS 1969 319 322; BBl 1968 I 585).
2 Ter­min­o­lo­gic­al amend­ment rel­ev­ant only to the Ger­man text.

Art. 179septies  

Mis­use of a tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions in­stall­a­tion

 

Any per­son who uses a tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions in­stall­a­tion ma­li­ciously or mis­chiev­ously in or­der to cause dis­tress to or har­ass an­oth­er, is li­able on com­plaint to a fine.


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 20 Dec. 1968 (AS 1969 319; BBl 1968 I 585). Amended by An­nex No 2 of the Tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions Act of 30 April 1997, in force since 1 Jan. 1998 (AS 1997 2187; BBl 1996 III 1405).

Art. 179octies  

Of­fi­cial sur­veil­lance, ex­emp­ted acts

 

1Any per­son who, in the ex­er­cise of ex­press stat­utory powers, or­ders or car­ries out the sur­veil­lance of the post or tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions of an­oth­er or makes use of tech­nic­al sur­veil­lance devices (Art. 179bis ff.) does not com­mit an of­fence provided that the ap­prov­al of the ap­pro­pri­ate court is ob­tained without delay.

2The re­quire­ments for the sur­veil­lance of post or tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions and the pro­ced­ure there­for is gov­erned by the Fed­er­al Act of 6 Oc­to­ber 20002 on the Sur­veil­lance of Post and Tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions.


1 In­ser­ted by No VII of the FA of 23 March 1979 on the Pro­tec­tion of Per­son­al Pri­vacy (AS 1979 1170; BBl 1976 I 529 II 1569). Amended by An­nex No 1 of the FA of 6 Oct. 2000 on the Sur­veil­lance of Post and Tele­com­mu­nic­a­tions, in force since 1 Jan. 2002 (AS 2001 3096; BBl 1998 4241).
2 SR 780.1

Art. 179novies  

Ob­tain­ing per­son­al data without au­thor­isa­tion

 

Any per­son who without au­thor­isa­tion ob­tains from a data col­lec­tion per­son­al data or per­son­al­ity pro­files that are par­tic­u­larly sens­it­ive and that are not freely ac­cess­ible is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 4 of the FA of 19 June 1992 on Data Pro­tec­tion, in force since 1 Ju­ly 1993 (AS 1993 1945; BBl 1988 II 413).

Title Four: Felonies and Misdemeanours against Liberty

Art. 180  

Threat­en­ing be­ha­viour

 

1Any per­son who places an­oth­er in a state of fear and alarm by mak­ing a ser­i­ous threat is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2The of­fend­er is pro­sec­uted ex of­fi­cio if he:

a.
is the spouse of the vic­tim and the threat was made dur­ing the mar­riage or with­in one year of di­vorce; or
abis.1 is the re­gistered part­ner of the vic­tim and the threat was made dur­ing the re­gistered part­ner­ship or with­in one year of its dis­sol­u­tion; or
b.
is the het­ero­sexu­al or ho­mo­sexu­al part­ner of the vic­tim, provided they are co­hab­it­ing for an un­lim­ited peri­od and the threat was made dur­ing this time or with­in one year of sep­ar­a­tion.2

1 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 18 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2005 5685; BBl 2003 1288).
2 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 3 Oct. 2003 (Pro­sec­u­tion of Of­fences with­in Mar­riage or Re­gistered Part­ner­ships), in force since 1 April 2004 (AS 2004 1403 1407; BBl 2003 1909 1937).

Art. 181  

Co­er­cion

 

Any per­son who, by the use of force or the threat of ser­i­ous det­ri­ment or oth­er re­stric­tion of an­oth­er's free­dom to act com­pels an­oth­er to carry out an act, to fail to carry out an act or to tol­er­ate an act, is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 181a  

Forced mar­riage, forced re­gistered part­ner­ship

 

1Any per­son who, by the use of force or the threat of ser­i­ous det­ri­ment or oth­er re­stric­tion of an­oth­er's free­dom to act com­pels an­oth­er to enter in­to a mar­riage or to have a same-sex part­ner­ship re­gistered is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2Any per­son who com­mits the fore­go­ing of­fence abroad but is now in Switzer­land and is not be­ing ex­tra­dited is li­able to the same pen­alty. Art­icle 7 para­graphs 4 and 5 ap­ply.


1 In­ser­ted by No I 6 of the FA of 15 June 2012 on Meas­ures against Forced Mar­riages, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2013 (AS 2013 1035; BBl 2011 2185).

Art. 182  

Traf­fick­ing in hu­man be­ings

 

1Any per­son who as a sup­pli­er, in­ter­me­di­ary or cus­tom­er en­gages in the traf­fick­ing of a hu­man be­ing for the pur­pose of sexu­al ex­ploit­a­tion, ex­ploit­a­tion of his or her la­bour or for the pur­pose of re­mov­ing an or­gan is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. The so­li­cit­ing of a per­son for these pur­poses is equi­val­ent to traf­fick­ing.

2If the vic­tim is a minor2 or if the of­fend­er acts for com­mer­cial gain, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

3In every case, a mon­et­ary pen­alty must also be im­posed.

4Any per­son who com­mits the act abroad is also guilty of an of­fence. Art­icles 5 and 6 ap­ply.


1 Amended by Art. 2 No 1 of the Fed­er­al De­cree of 24 March 2006 on the Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Op­tion­al Pro­tocol of 25 May 2000 to the Con­ven­tion on the Rights of the Child, on the Sale of Chil­dren, Child Pros­ti­tu­tion and Child Por­no­graphy, in force since 1 Dec. 2006 (AS 2006 5437 5440; BBl 2005 2807).
2AS 2012 7501

Art. 183  

False im­pris­on­ment and ab­duc­tion

 

1. Any per­son who un­law­fully ar­rests or holds an­oth­er pris­on­er or oth­er­wise un­law­fully de­prives an­oth­er of his liberty,

any per­son who, by the use of force, false pre­tences or threats, ab­ducts an­oth­er,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. Any per­son who ab­ducts a per­son who is in­cap­able of judge­ment or res­ist­ance or who is un­der the age of six­teen, is li­able the same pen­alty.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 9 Oct. 1981, in force since 1 Oct. 1982 (AS 1982 1530 1534; BBl 1980 I 1241).

Art. 184  

Ag­grav­at­ing cir­cum­stances

 

The pen­alty for false im­pris­on­ment and ab­duc­tion is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year,

if the of­fend­er at­tempts to ob­tain a ransom,

if he treats the vic­tim with cruelty,

if the depriva­tion of liberty lasts for a peri­od in ex­cess of ten days or

if the health of the vic­tim is ser­i­ously en­dangered.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 9 Oct. 1981, in force since 1 Oct. 1982 (AS 1982 1530 1534; BBl 1980 I 1241).

Art. 185  

Host­age tak­ing

 

1. Any per­son who de­prives an­oth­er of his liberty, or ab­ducts or oth­er­wise seizes an­oth­er in or­der to co­erce a third party to carry out an act, ab­stain from car­ry­ing out an act or tol­er­ate an act,

any per­son who ex­ploits a situ­ation cre­ated in the fore­go­ing man­ner by an­oth­er in or­der so to co­erce a third party,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year .

2. The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years if the of­fend­er threatens to kill or ser­i­ously in­jure the vic­tim or to treat the vic­tim with cruelty.

3. In par­tic­u­larly ser­i­ous cases, and in par­tic­u­lar if the act in­volves sev­er­al vic­tims, the of­fend­er is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life.

4.2 If the of­fend­er aban­dons the co­er­cion and re­leases the vic­tim, a re­duced pen­alty may be im­posed (Art. 48a).

5. Any per­son who com­mits the of­fence abroad is also li­able to the fore­go­ing pen­al­ties provided he is ar­res­ted in Switzer­land and not ex­tra­dited. Art­icle 7 para­graphs 4 and 5 ap­ply.3


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 9 Oct. 1981, in force since 1 Oct. 1982 (AS 1982 1530 1534; BBl 1980 I 1241).
2 Amended by No II 2 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).
3 Second sen­tence amended by No II 2 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 185bis  

En­forced dis­ap­pear­ance

 

1Any per­son who with the in­ten­tion of re­mov­ing a per­son from the pro­tec­tion of the law for a pro­longed peri­od of time:

a.
on be­half of or with the ac­qui­es­cence of a State or polit­ic­al or­gan­isa­tion, de­prives that per­son of their liberty, and there­after re­fuses to give in­form­a­tion as to their fate or where­abouts; or
b.
on be­half of or with the ac­qui­es­cence of a State or polit­ic­al or­gan­isa­tion or in vi­ol­a­tion of a leg­al duty re­fuses to give in­form­a­tion as to the fate or where­abouts of the per­son con­cerned.

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

2Any per­son who com­mits the of­fence abroad is also li­able to the fore­go­ing pen­alty provided they are now in Switzer­land and are not ex­tra­dited. Art­icle 7 para­graphs 4 and 5 ap­ply.


1 In­ser­ted by An­nex 2 No 1 of the Fed­er­al De­cree of 18 Dec. 2015 on the Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the In­ter­na­tion­al Con­ven­tion for the Pro­tec­tion of All Per­sons from En­forced Dis­ap­pear­ance, in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 4687; BBl 2014 453).

Art. 186  

Un­law­ful entry

 

Any per­son who, against the will of the law­ful oc­cu­pants enters a build­ing, an apart­ment, a self-con­tained room with­in a build­ing, an en­closed area, court­yard or garden form­ing a dir­ect part of a build­ing, or a clearly de­marc­ated work­place or, des­pite re­quests from the law­ful oc­cu­pants to leave, re­mains in such a loc­a­tion, is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Title Five: Offences against Sexual Integrity

Art. 187  

1. En­dan­ger­ing the de­vel­op­ment of minors

Sexu­al acts with chil­dren

 

1. Any per­son who en­gages in a sexu­al act with a child un­der 16 years of age, or,

in­cites a child to com­mit such an activ­ity, or

in­volves a child in a sexu­al act,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. No pen­alty may be im­posed if the dif­fer­ence in age between the per­sons in­volved is three years or less.

3.1 If the of­fend­er has not reached the age of 20 at the time of the act or the first of the acts, and if there are spe­cial cir­cum­stances, or if the child is the spouse or re­gistered part­ner of the of­fend­er, the re­spons­ible au­thor­ity may dis­pense with pro­sec­u­tion, re­fer­ral to the court or the im­pos­i­tion of a pen­alty.

4. If the of­fend­er acts un­der the mis­con­cep­tion that the child is 16 years of age or older, but he would not have made this er­ror had he ex­er­cised due care, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

5. …2

6. …3


1 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2013 on Activ­ity Pro­hib­i­tion Or­ders and Con­tact Pro­hib­i­tion and Ex­clu­sion Or­ders, in force since 1 Jan. 2015 (AS 2014 2055; BBl 2012 8819).
2 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 21 March 1997, with ef­fect from 1 Sept. 1997 (AS 1997 1626; BBl 1996 IV 1318 1322).
3 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 21 March 1997 (AS 1997 1626; BBl 1996 IV 1318 1322). Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Lim­it­a­tion of Right to Pro­sec­ute in gen­er­al and in cases of Sexu­al Of­fences against Chil­dren), with ef­fect from 1 Oct. 2002 (AS 2002 2993; BBl 2000 2943).

Art. 188  

Sexu­al acts with de­pend­ent per­sons

 

1. Any per­son who com­mits a sexu­al act by ex­ploit­ing his or her re­la­tion­ship with a minor over the age of 16 who is de­pend­ent on him due to a re­la­tion­ship arising from the minor's edu­ca­tion, care or em­ploy­ment or an­oth­er form of de­pend­ent re­la­tion­ship,

any per­son who en­cour­ages such a minor to com­mit a sexu­al act by ex­ploit­ing such a re­la­tion­ship,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2.1 If the minor is the spouse or re­gistered part­ner of the of­fend­er, the re­spons­ible au­thor­ity may dis­pense with pro­sec­u­tion, re­fer­ral to the court or the im­pos­i­tion of a pen­alty.


1 Amended by An­nex No 18 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2005 5685; BBl 2003 1288).

Art. 189  

2. Of­fences against sexu­al liberty and hon­our

In­de­cent as­sault

 

1Any per­son who uses threats, force or psy­cho­lo­gic­al pres­sure on an­oth­er per­son or makes that oth­er per­son in­cap­able of res­ist­ance in or­der to com­pel him or her to tol­er­ate a sexu­al act sim­il­ar to in­ter­course or any oth­er sexu­al act is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing ten years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

21

3If the of­fend­er acts with cruelty, and if in par­tic­u­lar he makes use of an of­fens­ive weapon or any oth­er dan­ger­ous ob­ject, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years.2


1 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 3 Oct. 2003 (Pro­sec­u­tion of Of­fences with­in Mar­riage or Re­gistered Part­ner­ships), with ef­fect from 1 April 2004 (AS 2004 1403 1407; BBl 2003 1909 1937).
2 Amended by No I of the FA of 3 Oct. 2003 (Pro­sec­u­tion of Of­fences with­in Mar­riage or Re­gistered Part­ner­ships), in force since 1 April 2004 (AS 2004 1403 1407; BBl 2003 1909 1937).

Art. 190  

Rape

 

1Any per­son who forces a per­son of the fe­male sex by threats or vi­ol­ence, psy­cho­lo­gic­al pres­sure or by be­ing made in­cap­able of res­ist­ance to sub­mit to sexu­al in­ter­course is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of from one to ten years.

21

3If the of­fend­er acts with cruelty, and if in par­tic­u­lar he makes use of an of­fens­ive weapon or any oth­er dan­ger­ous ob­ject, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years.2


1 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 3 Oct. 2003 (Pro­sec­u­tion of Of­fences with­in Mar­riage or Re­gistered Part­ner­ships), with ef­fect from 1 April 2004 (AS 2004 1403 1407; BBl 2003 1909 1937).
2 Amended by No I of the FA of 3 Oct. 2003 (Pro­sec­u­tion of Of­fences with­in Mar­riage or Re­gistered Part­ner­ships), in force since 1 April 2004 (AS 2004 1403 1407; BBl 2003 1909 1937).

Art. 191  

Sexu­al acts with per­sons in­cap­able of judge­ment or res­ist­ance

 

Any per­son who, in the know­ledge that an­oth­er per­son is in­cap­able of judge­ment or res­ist­ance, has sexu­al in­ter­course with, or com­mits an act sim­il­ar to sexu­al in­ter­course or any oth­er sexu­al act on that per­son is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing ten years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 192  

Sexu­al acts with per­sons in in­sti­tu­tion­al care, pris­on­ers and per­sons on re­mand

 

1Any per­son who, by ab­us­ing a de­pend­ent re­la­tion­ship with a per­son in in­sti­tu­tion­al care, an in­mate of an in­sti­tu­tion, a pris­on­er, a de­tain­ee or a per­son on re­mand, in­duces the de­pend­ent per­son to com­mit or sub­mit to a sexu­al act, is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2If the per­son harmed is the spouse or re­gistered part­ner of the of­fend­er, the re­spons­ible au­thor­ity may dis­pense with pro­sec­u­tion, re­fer­ral to the court or the im­pos­i­tion of a pen­alty.1


1 Amended by An­nex No 18 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2005 5685; BBl 2003 1288).

Art. 193  

Ex­ploit­a­tion of a per­son in a po­s­i­tion of need or de­pend­ency

 

1Any per­son who in­duces an­oth­er to com­mit or sub­mit to a sexu­al act by ex­ploit­ing a po­s­i­tion of need or a de­pend­ent re­la­tion­ship based on em­ploy­ment or an­oth­er de­pend­ent re­la­tion­ship is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2If the per­son harmed is the spouse or re­gistered part­ner of the of­fend­er, the re­spons­ible au­thor­ity may dis­pense with pro­sec­u­tion, re­fer­ral to the court or the im­pos­i­tion of a pen­alty.1


1 Amended by An­nex No 18 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2005 5685; BBl 2003 1288).

Art. 194  

In­de­cent con­duct

 

1Any per­son who en­gages in an act of in­de­cent con­duct is li­able on com­plaint to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.1

2If the of­fend­er un­der­goes med­ic­al treat­ment, the crim­in­al pro­ceed­ings may be sus­pen­ded. They may be re­sumed if the of­fend­er re­fuses to con­tin­ue treat­ment.


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Amend­ment to the Law on Crim­in­al Sanc­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2016 1249; BBl 2012 4721).

Art. 195  

3. Ex­ploit­a­tion of sexu­al acts

En­cour­aging pros­ti­tu­tion

 

Any per­son who

a.
in­duces a minor in­to pros­ti­tu­tion or en­cour­ages a minor in his or her pros­ti­tu­tion with the in­ten­tion of se­cur­ing a fin­an­cial ad­vant­age
b.
in­duces a per­son in­to pros­ti­tu­tion by ex­ploit­ing his or her de­pend­ence or a fin­an­cial ad­vant­age,
c.
re­stricts the free­dom to act of a pros­ti­tute by su­per­vising him or her in the course of his or her activ­it­ies or by ex­er­cising con­trol over the loc­a­tion, time, volume or oth­er as­pects of his or her work as a pros­ti­tute or,
d.
makes a per­son re­main a pros­ti­tute against his or her will,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing ten years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the Fed­er­al De­cree of 27 Sept. 2013 (Lan­zarote Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2014 (AS 2014 1159; BBl 2012 7571).

Art. 196  

Sexu­al acts with minors against pay­ment

 

Any per­son who car­ries out sexu­al acts with a minor or in­duces a minor to carry out such acts and who makes or prom­ises pay­ment in re­turn is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the Fed­er­al De­cree of 27 Sept. 2013 (Lan­zarote Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2014 (AS 2014 1159; BBl 2012 7571).

Art. 197  

4. Por­no­graphy

 

1Any per­son who of­fers, shows, passes on or makes ac­cess­ible to a per­son un­der the age of 16 por­no­graph­ic doc­u­ments, sound or visu­al re­cord­ings, de­pic­tions or oth­er items of a sim­il­ar nature or por­no­graph­ic per­form­ances, or broad­casts any of the same on ra­dio or tele­vi­sion is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. Any per­son who ex­hib­its in pub­lic items or per­form­ances as de­scribed in para­graph 1 above or shows or oth­er­wise of­fers the same un­so­li­cited to oth­ers is li­able to a fine. Any per­son who, in ad­vance, draws the at­ten­tion of vis­it­ors to private ex­hib­i­tions or per­form­ances to their por­no­graph­ic char­ac­ter does not com­mit an of­fence.

3Any per­son who re­cruits or causes a minor to par­ti­cip­ate in a por­no­graph­ic per­form­ance is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

4Any per­son who pro­duces, im­ports, stores, mar­kets, ad­vert­ises, ex­hib­its, of­fers, shows, passes on or makes ac­cess­ible to oth­ers, ac­quires, or pro­cures or pos­sesses via elec­tron­ic me­dia or oth­er­wise items or per­form­ances as de­scribed in para­graph 1 above that con­tain sexu­al acts in­volving an­im­als, acts of vi­ol­ence in­volving adults or non-genu­ine sexu­al acts with minors is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. If the items or per­form­ances con­tain genu­ine sexu­al acts with minors, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

5Any per­son who con­sumes or who for his or her own con­sump­tion pro­duces, im­ports, stores, ac­quires or pro­cures or pos­sesses via elec­tron­ic me­dia or oth­er­wise items or per­form­ances as de­scribed in para­graph 1 above that con­tain sexu­al acts in­volving an­im­als, acts of vi­ol­ence in­volving adults or non-genu­ine sexu­al acts with minors is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing one year or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. If the items or per­form­ances con­tain genu­ine sexu­al acts with minors, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

6In the case of of­fences un­der para­graphs 4 and 5, the items shall be for­feited.

7If the of­fend­er acts for fin­an­cial gain, the cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

8Minors over the age of 16 are not li­able to any pen­alty if by mu­tu­al con­sent they pro­duce items or per­form­ances as de­scribed in para­graph 1 above that in­volve each oth­er, or pos­sess or con­sume such items or per­form­ances.

9Items or re­cord­ings as de­scribed in para­graphs 1-5 above are not re­garded as por­no­graph­ic if they have a cul­tur­al or sci­entif­ic value that jus­ti­fies their pro­tec­tion by law.


1 Amended by An­nex No 1 of the Fed­er­al De­cree of 27 Sept. 2013 (Lan­zarote Con­ven­tion), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2014 (AS 2014 1159; BBl 2012 7571).

Art. 198  

5. Con­tra­ven­tions against sexu­al in­teg­rity

Sexu­al har­ass­ment

 

Any per­son who causes of­fence by per­form­ing a sexu­al act in the pres­ence of an­oth­er who does not ex­pect it,

any per­son who sexu­ally har­asses an­oth­er phys­ic­ally or through the use of in­de­cent lan­guage,

is li­able on com­plaint to a fine.

Art. 199  

Un­au­thor­ised prac­tice of pros­ti­tu­tion

 

Any per­son who vi­ol­ates the can­ton­al reg­u­la­tions on the per­mit­ted loc­a­tions or times at which pros­ti­tu­tion may be prac­tised or the man­ner in which it may be prac­tised, or on the pre­ven­tion of re­lated pub­lic nuis­ance is li­able to a fine.

Art. 200  

6. Joint com­mis­sion

 

Where any per­son com­mits an of­fence un­der this Title jointly with one or more oth­ers, the court may in­crease the pen­alty im­posed, but may not ex­ceed the stand­ard max­im­um pen­alty for the of­fence by more than an ad­di­tion­al half. The court, in im­pos­ing the pen­alty, is bound by the stat­utory max­im­um pen­alty for the type of of­fence in ques­tion.

Art. 201-212  

1 These re­pealed art­icles have (with the ex­cep­tion of Art. 211) been re­placed by Art­icles 195, 196, 197, 198, 199 (see Com­ment­ary on Dis­patch No 23; BBl 1985 II 1009). Art. 211 has been de­leted without re­place­ment.

 

Title Six: Felonies and Misdemeanours against the Family

Art. 213  

In­cest

 

1Any per­son who has sexu­al in­ter­course with a blood re­l­at­ive in dir­ect line or with a broth­er or sis­ter, or a half-broth­er or half-sis­ter is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2Minors are not li­able to any pen­alty provided they have been in­duced to com­mit the act.

32


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 23 June 1989, in force since 1 Jan. 1990 (AS 1989 2449 2456; BBl 1985 II 1009).
2 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 5 Oct. 2001 (Lim­it­a­tion of Right to Pro­sec­ute in gen­er­al and in cases of Sexu­al Of­fences against Chil­dren; AS 2002 2993; BBl 2000 2943).

Art. 214  

1 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 23 June 1989, with ef­fect from 1 Oct. 2002 (AS 1989 2449; BBl 1985 II 1009).

 
Art. 215  

Bi­gamy

 

Any per­son who mar­ries or enters in­to a re­gistered same-sex part­ner­ship when he is already mar­ried or liv­ing in a re­gistered same-sex part­ner­ship,

any per­son who mar­ries or enters in­to a re­gistered same-sex part­ner­ship with a per­son who is already mar­ried or liv­ing in a re­gistered same-sex part­ner­ship,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Amended by An­nex No 18 of the Same-Sex Part­ner­ship Act of 18 June 2004, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2005 5685; BBl 2003 1288).

Art. 216  

1 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 23 June 1989, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 1990 (AS 1989 2449; BBl 1985 II 1009).

 
Art. 217  

Neg­lect of duty to sup­port the fam­ily

 

1Any per­son who fails to ful­fil his or her fam­ily law du­ties to provide main­ten­ance or sup­port al­though he or she has or could have the means to do so, is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2The au­thor­it­ies and agen­cies ap­poin­ted by the can­tons also have the right to file a com­plaint. In ex­er­cising this right, they shall take ac­count of the in­terests of the fam­ily.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 23 June 1989, in force since 1 Jan. 1990 (AS 1989 2449 2456; BBl 1985 II 1009).

Art. 218  

1 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 23 June 1989, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 1990 (AS 1989 2449; BBl 1985 II 1009).

 
Art. 219  

Neg­lect of du­ties of care, su­per­vi­sion or edu­ca­tion

 

1Any per­son who vi­ol­ates or neg­lects his or her du­ties of su­per­vi­sion and edu­ca­tion to­wards a minor and thus en­dangers the minor's phys­ic­al or men­tal de­vel­op­ment, is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, a fine may be im­posed in­stead of a cus­todi­al sen­tence or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.2


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 23 June 1989, in force since 1 Jan. 1990 (AS 1989 2449 2456; BBl 1985 II 1009).
2 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 220  

Ab­duc­tion of minors

 

Any per­son who re­moves a minor from or re­fuses to re­turn a minor to the per­son hold­ing the right to de­cide on the minor's place of res­id­ence is li­able on com­plaint to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Amended by An­nex No 4 of the FA of 21 June 2013 (Par­ent­al Re­spons­ib­il­ity), in force since 1 Ju­ly 2014 (AS 2014 357; BBl 2011 9077).

Title Seven: Felonies and Misdemeanours constituting a Public Danger

Art. 221  

Ar­son

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully causes a fire and thus does dam­age to an­oth­er or causes a danger to the pub­lic is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

2If the of­fend­er wil­fully en­dangers the life and limb of oth­ers, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years.

3If the dam­age caused is minor, the pen­alty may be re­duced to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of up to three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 222  

Neg­li­gent ar­son

 

1Any per­son who causes a fire through neg­li­gence and thus does dam­age to an­oth­er or causes a danger to the pub­lic is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2If the of­fend­er through neg­li­gence en­dangers the life and limb of oth­ers, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 223  

Caus­ing an ex­plo­sion

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully causes an ex­plo­sion in­volving gas, pet­rol, par­affin or a sim­il­ar sub­stance and thus know­ingly en­dangers the life and limb or prop­erty of oth­ers is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

If only minor loss, dam­age or in­jury is caused, a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty may be im­posed.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 224  

Mis­use of ex­plos­ives and tox­ic gases with crim­in­al in­tent

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully and with crim­in­al in­tent en­dangers the life and limb or the prop­erty of oth­ers through the use of ex­plos­ives or tox­ic gases is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

2If only an in­sig­ni­fic­ant danger to prop­erty is caused, a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty may be im­posed.

Art. 225  

Mis­use of ex­plos­ives or tox­ic gases without crim­in­al in­tent or through neg­li­gence

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully but without crim­in­al in­tent en­dangers the life and limb or the prop­erty of oth­ers through the use of ex­plos­ives or tox­ic gases is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2In minor cases, a fine may be im­posed.

Art. 226  

Man­u­fac­ture, con­ceal­ment and trans­port of ex­plos­ives and tox­ic gases

 

1Any per­son who man­u­fac­tures ex­plos­ives or tox­ic gases that he knows or must as­sume are in­ten­ded to be used to com­mit a felony is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of at least six months and no more than ten years.1

2Any per­son who pro­cures, passes on to an­oth­er, ac­cepts from an­oth­er, safe­guards, con­ceals or trans­ports ex­plos­ives, tox­ic gases or sub­stances suit­able for their man­u­fac­ture is li­able, if he knows or must as­sume that they are in­ten­ded to be used to com­mit a felony, to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty of not less than 30 daily pen­alty units2.

3Any per­son who in­structs an­oth­er per­son on how to man­u­fac­ture ex­plos­ives or tox­ic gases when he knows or must as­sume that that per­son is plan­ning to use the ex­plos­ives or tox­ic gases to com­mit a felony is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty of not less than 30 daily pen­alty units.


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Amend­ment to the Law on Crim­in­al Sanc­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2016 1249; BBl 2012 4721).
2 Term in ac­cord­ance with No II 1 para. 14 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979). This amend­ment has been taken in­to ac­count throughout the Second Book.

Art. 226bis  

Caus­ing danger by means of nuc­le­ar en­ergy, ra­dio­activ­ity or ion­ising ra­di­ation

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully causes ser­i­ous danger to the life or the health of people or to the prop­erty of oth­ers by means of nuc­le­ar en­ergy, ra­dio­act­ive sub­stances or ion­ising ra­di­ation is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence or a mon­et­ary pen­alty. A cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2If the of­fend­er acts through neg­li­gence, he is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. A cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 2 of the Nuc­le­ar En­ergy Act of 21 March 2003, in force since 1 Feb. 2005 (RO 2004 4719; BBl 2001 2665).

Art. 226ter  

Pre­par­at­ory of­fences

 

1Any per­son who sys­tem­at­ic­ally car­ries out spe­cif­ic tech­nic­al or or­gan­isa­tion­al pre­par­a­tions for acts in­ten­ded to cause danger to the life or the health of people or to the prop­erty of oth­ers by means of nuc­le­ar en­ergy, ra­dio­act­ive sub­stances or ion­ising ra­di­ation of sub­stan­tial value is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. A cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2Any per­son who man­u­fac­tures, pro­cures, passes on to an­oth­er, ac­cepts from an­oth­er, stores, con­ceals or trans­ports ra­dio­act­ive sub­stances, equip­ment, ap­par­at­us or art­icles that con­tain ra­dio­act­ive sub­stances or may emit ion­ising ra­di­ation is li­able, if he knows or must as­sume that they are in­ten­ded for un­law­ful use, to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing ten years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. A cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

3Any per­son who in­structs an­oth­er per­son on how to man­u­fac­ture such sub­stances, equip­ment, ap­par­at­us or art­icles is li­able, if he knows or must as­sume that they are in­ten­ded for un­law­ful use, to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. A cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 In­ser­ted by An­nex No II 2 of the Nuc­le­ar En­ergy Act of 21 March 2003, in force since 1 Feb. 2005 (RO 2004 4719; BBl 2001 2665).

Art. 227  

Caus­ing a flood, col­lapse or land­slide

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully causes a flood, the col­lapse of a struc­ture or a land­slide or rock fall and thus know­ingly en­dangers the life and limb of people or the prop­erty of oth­ers is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

If only minor loss, dam­age or in­jury is caused, a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty may be im­posed.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 228  

Crim­in­al dam­age to elec­tric­al in­stall­a­tions, and hy­draul­ic or pro­tect­ive struc­tures

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully dam­ages or des­troys elec­tric­al in­stall­a­tions, hy­draul­ic struc­tures such as dams, weirs, dikes, and floodgates, struc­tures erec­ted to provide pro­tec­tion against nat­ur­al forces such as land­slides or ava­lanches, and thus know­ingly en­dangers the life and limb of people or the prop­erty of oth­ers, is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

If only minor loss, dam­age or in­jury is caused, a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty may be im­posed.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 229  

Vi­ol­a­tion of con­struc­tion reg­u­la­tions

 

1Any per­son en­gaged in the man­age­ment or ex­e­cu­tion of con­struc­tion or de­moli­tion work who wil­fully dis­reg­ards the ac­cep­ted rules of con­struc­tion and as a res­ult know­ingly en­dangers the life and limb of oth­ers is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. The cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2If the of­fend­er dis­reg­ards the ac­cep­ted rules of con­struc­tion through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 230  

Re­mov­al or non-in­stall­a­tion of safety devices

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully dam­ages, des­troys, re­moves, oth­er­wise renders un­us­able or de­ac­tiv­ates a safety device which serves to pre­vent ac­ci­dents in a fact­ory or oth­er com­mer­cial premises or on a ma­chine,

who wil­fully fails to in­stall such a device in vi­ol­a­tion of the reg­u­la­tions,

and thus know­ingly en­dangers the life and limb of oth­er people,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. The cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Title Eight: Felonies and Misdemeanours against Public Health

Art. 230bis  

Caus­ing danger by means of ge­net­ic­ally mod­i­fied or patho­gen­ic or­gan­isms

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully re­leases ge­net­ic­ally mod­i­fied or patho­gen­ic or­gan­isms or the dis­rupts the op­er­a­tion of a fa­cil­ity for the re­search in­to, or the safe­guard­ing, pro­duc­tion or trans­port of such or­gan­isms is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing ten years, provided he knows or must as­sume that through his acts:

a.
he will en­danger the life and limb of people; or
b.
the nat­ur­al com­pos­i­tion of com­munit­ies of an­im­als and plants or their hab­it­ats will be ser­i­ously en­dangered.

2If the of­fend­er acts through neg­li­gence, he is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 In­ser­ted by An­nex No 1 of the Gene Tech­no­logy Act of 21 March 2003, in force since 1 Jan. 2004 (RO 2003 4803; BBl 2000 2391).

Art. 231  

Trans­mis­sion of hu­man dis­eases

 

1. Any per­son who ma­li­ciously trans­mits a dan­ger­ous com­mu­nic­able hu­man dis­ease is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of from one to five years.


1 Amended by Art. 86 No 1 of the Epi­dem­ics Act of 28 Sept. 2012, in force since 1 Jan. 2016 (AS 2015 1435; BBl 2011 311).

Art. 232  

Trans­mis­sion of an epi­zo­ot­ic dis­ease

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully causes the trans­mis­sion of an epi­zo­ot­ic dis­ease among do­mest­ic an­im­als is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

If the of­fend­er ma­li­ciously causes ser­i­ous loss, dam­age or in­jury, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of from one to five years.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 233  

Propaga­tion of harm­ful para­sites

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully propag­ates a para­site or mi­cro-or­gan­ism that con­sti­tutes a danger to ag­ri­cul­ture or forestry, is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

If the of­fend­er ma­li­ciously causes ser­i­ous loss, dam­age or in­jury, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of from one to five years.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 234  

Con­tam­in­a­tion of drink­ing wa­ter

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully con­tam­in­ates drink­ing wa­ter in­ten­ded for people or do­mest­ic an­im­als with sub­stances that are dam­aging to health is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty of not less than 30 daily pen­alty units.

2If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 235  

Pro­duc­tion of harm­ful an­im­al feed

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully pro­duces or treats an­im­al feed or feed­stuffs for do­mest­ic an­im­als in such a way that they con­sti­tute a danger to the health of an­im­als is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

If the of­fend­er car­ries on a com­mer­cial op­er­a­tion to pro­duce or treat an­im­al feed that is harm­ful to an­im­als, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty of not less than 30 daily pen­alty units. A cus­todi­al sen­tence must be com­bined with a mon­et­ary pen­alty.1 In such cases, pub­lic no­tice is giv­en of the con­vic­tion.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a fine.

3. The products are for­feited. They may be rendered harm­less or des­troyed.


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 236  

Mar­ket­ing of harm­ful an­im­al feed

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully im­ports, stores, of­fers for sale or mar­kets an­im­al feed or an­im­al feed­stuffs that con­sti­tute a danger to an­im­als is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty. Pub­lic no­tice is giv­en of the con­vic­tion.

2If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a fine.

3The products are for­feited. They may be rendered harm­less or des­troyed.

Felonies and Misdemeanours against Public Traffic

Art. 237  

Dis­rup­tion of pub­lic traffic

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully ob­structs, dis­rupts or en­dangers pub­lic traffic, in par­tic­u­lar traffic on the roads, on wa­ter or in the air and as a res­ult know­ingly causes danger to the life and limb of oth­er people is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

If the of­fend­er thus know­ingly en­dangers the life and limb of a large num­ber of people, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of from one to ten years may be im­posed.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 238  

Dis­rup­tion of rail traffic

 

1Any per­son who wil­fully ob­structs, dis­rupts or en­dangers rail­way ser­vices and as a res­ult causes danger to the life, limb or prop­erty of oth­er people, and in par­tic­u­lar the danger of de­rail­ment or col­li­sion is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty1.

2If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence and as a res­ult causes ser­i­ous danger to the life, limb or prop­erty of oth­er people the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Term in ac­cord­ance with No II 1 para. 15 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979). This amend­ment has been taken in­to ac­count throughout the Second Book.

Art. 239  

Dis­rup­tion of pub­lic ser­vices

 

1. Any per­son who wil­fully ob­structs, dis­rupts or en­dangers the op­er­a­tion of a pub­lic ser­vice and in par­tic­u­lar the rail­way, postal, tele­graph­ic or tele­phone ser­vices,

any per­son who wil­fully ob­structs, dis­rupts or en­dangers the op­er­a­tion of a pub­lic util­ity or in­stall­a­tion which provides wa­ter, light, power or heat,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Title Ten: Counterfeiting of Money, Official Stamps, Official Marks, Weights and Measures

Art. 240  

Coun­ter­feit­ing money

 

1Any per­son who coun­ter­feits coins, pa­per money or bank­notes in or­der to pass these off as genu­ine is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year.

2In par­tic­u­larly minor cases, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

3The of­fend­er is also li­able to the fore­go­ing pen­al­ties if he com­mit­ted the act abroad, has entered Switzer­land and is not be­ing ex­tra­dited, provided the act is also an of­fence at the place of com­mis­sion.

Art. 241  

Falsi­fic­a­tion of money

 

1Any per­son who al­ters coins, pa­per money or bank notes in or­der to pass these off at a value high­er than their true value is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of at least six months and no more than five years.1

2In par­tic­u­larly minor cases, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Amend­ment to the Law on Crim­in­al Sanc­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2016 1249; BBl 2012 4721).

Art. 242  

Passing or ten­der­ing coun­ter­feit money

 

1Any per­son who passes or tenders coun­ter­feit or fals­i­fied coins, pa­per money or bank notes as genu­ine money is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty1.

2If the of­fend­er, the per­son in­struct­ing him or his agent ac­cep­ted the coins or bank­notes on the un­der­stand­ing that they were genu­ine or not fals­i­fied, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Term in ac­cord­ance with No II 1 para. 2 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979). This amend­ment has been taken in­to ac­count throughout the Second Book.

Art. 243  

Im­it­a­tion of bank notes, coins or of­fi­cial stamps without in­tent to com­mit for­gery

 

1Any per­son who, without the in­ten­tion of com­mit­ting the of­fence of for­gery, re­pro­duces or im­it­ates bank notes and thus cre­ates the risk that per­sons or ma­chines will con­fuse such notes with genu­ine notes, in par­tic­u­lar if the over­all ap­pear­ance, one side or the great­er part of one side of a bank note re­pro­duces or im­it­ates a ma­ter­i­al and a size that is identic­al or sim­il­ar to the ma­ter­i­al and size of the ori­gin­al,

any per­son who, without the in­ten­tion of com­mit­ting the of­fence of for­gery, pro­duces ob­jects which in their ap­pear­ance, weight and size are sim­il­ar to coins in cir­cu­la­tion, or which show the nom­in­al value or oth­er char­ac­ter­ist­ics of coins which have been of­fi­cially struck, and thus cre­ates the risk that per­sons or ma­chines will con­fuse such coins with coins which are in cir­cu­la­tion,

any per­son who, without the in­ten­tion of com­mit­ting the of­fence of for­gery re­pro­duces or im­it­ates of­fi­cial stamps and thus cre­ates the risk that such stamps will be con­fused with genu­ine stamps,

any per­son who im­ports, of­fers or puts in­to cir­cu­la­tion such ob­jects art­icles,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.2

2If the per­son con­cerned acts through neg­li­gence, he is li­able to a fine.3


1 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 22 Dec. 1999 on Cur­rency and Pay­ment In­stru­ments, in force since 1 May 2000 (AS 2000 1144; BBl 1999 7258).
2 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).
3 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 244  

Im­port, ac­quis­i­tion and stor­age of coun­ter­feit money

 

1Any per­son who im­ports, ac­quires or stores coun­ter­feit or fals­i­fied coins, pa­per money or bank notes in or­der to pass these off as genu­ine or non-fals­i­fied is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.1

2Any per­son who im­ports, ac­quires or stores such money on a large scale is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of from one to five years.


1 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 22 Dec. 1999 on Cur­rency and Pay­ment In­stru­ments, in force since 1 May 2000 (AS 2000 1144; BBl 1999 7258).

Art. 245  

For­gery of of­fi­cial stamps

 

1. Any per­son who forges or fals­i­fies of­fi­cial stamps, and in par­tic­u­lar post­age stamps, rev­en­ue stamps or fee stamps, in or­der to pass these off as genu­ine or non-fals­i­fied,

any per­son who gives can­celled of­fi­cial value stamps the ap­pear­ance of be­ing val­id in or­der to pass them off as such,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

The of­fend­er is also li­able to the fore­go­ing pen­al­ties if he com­mit­ted the act abroad, has entered Switzer­land and is not be­ing ex­tra­dited, provided the act is also an of­fence at the place of com­mis­sion.

2. Any per­son who passes off forged, fals­i­fied or can­celled of­fi­cial stamps as genu­ine, non-fals­i­fied or val­id is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 246  

For­gery of of­fi­cial marks

 

Any per­son who forges or fals­i­fies an of­fi­cial mark which the au­thor­it­ies af­fix to an ob­ject to con­firm the res­ult of an in­spec­tion or the grant­ing of ap­prov­al such as hall­marks, or marks stamped on goods by meat in­spect­ors or cus­toms of­fi­cials, with the in­ten­tion of passing the mark off as genu­ine,

any per­son who passes off such forged or fals­i­fied marks as genu­ine or non-fals­i­fied,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 247  

Coun­ter­feit­ing equip­ment and un­law­ful use of equip­ment

 

Any per­son who con­structs or ac­quires equip­ment for the for­gery or falsi­fic­a­tion of coins, pa­per money, bank notes or of­fi­cial stamps in or­der to make un­law­ful use of such equip­ment,

any per­son who makes un­law­ful use of equip­ment which is used for the pro­duc­tion of coins, pa­per money, bank notes or of­fi­cial stamps,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 248  

Falsi­fic­a­tion of weights and meas­ures

 

Any per­son who, in or­der to de­ceive oth­ers in trade or com­merce,

at­taches a false cal­ib­ra­tion mark to weights and meas­ures, scales or oth­er meas­ur­ing in­stru­ments or fals­i­fies an ex­ist­ing cal­ib­ra­tion mark,

makes al­ter­a­tions to weights and meas­ures, scales or oth­er meas­ur­ing in­stru­ments, or

makes use of forged or fals­i­fied weights and meas­ures, scales or oth­er meas­ur­ing in­stru­ments,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 249  

For­feit­ure

 

1Forged or fals­i­fied coins, pa­per money, bank­notes, of­fi­cial stamps, of­fi­cial marks, weights and meas­ures, scales or oth­er meas­ur­ing in­stru­ments as well as the coun­ter­feit­ing equip­ment is for­feited and rendered un­us­able or des­troyed.

2Bank­notes, coins or of­fi­cial stamps that have been re­pro­duced, im­it­ated or pro­duced without the in­tent to com­mit for­gery, but which cre­ate a risk of con­fu­sion, are also for­feited and rendered un­us­able or des­troyed.


1 Amended by An­nex No 3 of the FA of 22 Dec. 1999 on Cur­rency and Pay­ment In­stru­ments, in force since 1 May 2000 (AS 2000 1144; BBl 1999 7258).

Art. 250  

For­eign cur­rency and stamps

 

The pro­vi­sions this Title also ap­ply in the case of for­eign coins, pa­per money, bank­notes and stamps.

Title Eleven: Forgery

Art. 251  

For­gery of a doc­u­ment

 

1. Any per­son who with a view to caus­ing fin­an­cial loss or dam­age to the rights of an­oth­er or in or­der to ob­tain an un­law­ful ad­vant­age for him­self or an­oth­er,

pro­duces a false doc­u­ment, fals­i­fies a genu­ine doc­u­ment, uses the genu­ine sig­na­ture or mark of an­oth­er to pro­duce a false doc­u­ment, falsely cer­ti­fies or causes to be falsely cer­ti­fied a fact of leg­al sig­ni­fic­ance or,

makes use of a false or fals­i­fied doc­u­ment in or­der to de­ceive,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. In par­tic­u­larly minor cases, a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty may be im­posed.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 June 1994, in force since 1 Jan. 1995 (AS 1994 2290 2307; BBl 1991 II 969).

Art. 252  

For­gery of cer­ti­fic­ates

 

Any per­son who with the in­ten­tion of fur­ther­ing his own po­s­i­tion or that of an­oth­er,

forges or fals­i­fies iden­tity doc­u­ments, ref­er­ences, or cer­ti­fic­ates,

uses such a doc­u­ment in or­der to de­ceive an­oth­er,

or uses a genu­ine doc­u­ment of this nature but which does not ap­ply to him in or­der to de­ceive an­oth­er,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 June 1994, in force since 1 Jan. 1995 (AS 1994 2290 2307; BBl 1991 II 969).

Art. 253  

Ob­tain­ing a false cer­ti­fic­ate by fraud

 

Any per­son who by fraud­u­lent means causes a pub­lic of­fi­cial or a per­son act­ing in an of­fi­cial ca­pa­city to cer­ti­fy an un­true fact of sub­stan­tial leg­al sig­ni­fic­ance, and in par­tic­u­lar to cer­ti­fy a false sig­na­ture or an in­cor­rect copy as genu­ine, or

any per­son who makes use of a doc­u­ment ob­tained by fraud in this way in or­der to de­ceive an­oth­er as to the fact cer­ti­fied therein,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 254  

Sup­pres­sion of doc­u­ments

 

1Any per­son who dam­ages, des­troys, con­ceals or mis­ap­pro­pri­ates a doc­u­ment over which he has no ex­clus­ive right of dis­pos­al, with a view to caus­ing fin­an­cial loss or dam­age to the rights of an­oth­er or in or­der to ob­tain an un­law­ful ad­vant­age for him­self or an­oth­er is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2The sup­pres­sion of doc­u­ments to the det­ri­ment of a re­l­at­ive or fam­ily mem­ber is pro­sec­uted only on com­plaint.

Art. 255  

Of­fi­cial for­eign doc­u­ments

 

Art­icles 251-254 also ap­ply to of­fi­cial for­eign doc­u­ments.

Art. 256  

Mov­ing of bound­ary mark­ers

 

Any per­son who, with the in­ten­tion of caus­ing fin­an­cial loss or dam­aging the rights of an­oth­er or of ob­tain­ing an un­law­ful ad­vant­age for him­self or an­oth­er, re­moves, moves, renders un­re­cog­nis­able, falsely po­s­i­tions or fals­i­fies a bound­ary stone or oth­er bound­ary mark­er is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 257  

Re­mov­al of sur­vey points and wa­ter level in­dic­at­ors

 

Any per­son who re­moves, moves, renders un­re­cog­nis­able or falsely po­s­i­tions a pub­lic sur­vey point or wa­ter level in­dic­at­or is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Title Twelve: Felonies and Misdemeanours against Public Order

Art. 258  

Caus­ing fear and alarm among the gen­er­al pub­lic

 

Any per­son who causes fear and alarm among the gen­er­al pub­lic by threat­en­ing or feign­ing a danger to life, limb or prop­erty is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 17 June 1994, in force since 1 Jan. 1995 (AS 1994 2290 2307; BBl 1991 II 969).

Art. 259  

Pub­lic in­cite­ment to com­mit a felony or act of vi­ol­ence

 

1Any per­son who pub­licly in­cites oth­ers to com­mit a felony is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

1bisPub­lic in­cite­ment to com­mit gen­o­cide (Art. 264), where the in­ten­tion is for the act to be car­ried out ex­clus­ively or partly in Switzer­land, is also an of­fence if the in­cite­ment oc­curs out­side Switzer­land.2

2Any per­son who pub­licly in­cites oth­ers to com­mit a mis­de­mean­our that in­volves vi­ol­ence against oth­er per­sons or prop­erty is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 Amended by No I of the FA of 9 Oct. 1981, in force since 1 Oct. 1982 (AS 1982 1530 1534; BBl 1980 I 1241).
2 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 18 June 2010 on the Amend­ment of Fed­er­al Le­gis­la­tion in Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Rome Statue of the In­ter­na­tion­al Crim­in­al Court, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 4963; BBl 2008 3863).

Art. 260  

Ri­ot­ing

 

1Any per­son who takes part in a ri­ot­ous as­sembly in pub­lic in the course of which acts of vi­ol­ence are com­mit­ted against per­sons and prop­erty by the use of united force is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2Par­ti­cipants who re­move them­selves when of­fi­cially ordered to do so are not held to have com­mit­ted an of­fence if they have not used vi­ol­ence or en­cour­aged oth­ers to do so.

Art. 260bis  

Acts pre­par­at­ory to the com­mis­sion of an of­fence

 

1Any per­son who, in ac­cord­ance with a plan, car­ries out spe­cif­ic tech­nic­al or or­gan­isa­tion­al meas­ures, the nature and ex­tent of which in­dic­ate that the of­fend­er in­tends to com­mit any of the of­fences lis­ted be­low is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty:

a.
in­ten­tion­al hom­icide (Art. 111);
b.
murder (Art. 112);
c.
ser­i­ous as­sault (Art. 122);
cbis.2 fe­male gen­it­al mu­til­a­tion (Art. 124);
d.
rob­bery (Art. 140);
e.
false im­pris­on­ment and ab­duc­tion (Art. 183);
f.
host­age tak­ing (Art. 185);
fbis.3 en­forced dis­ap­pear­ance (Art. 185bis);
g.
ar­son (Art. 221);
h.
gen­o­cide (Art. 264);
i.
crimes against hu­man­ity (Art. 264a);
j. war crimes (Art. 264c-264h).4

2If the of­fend­er, of his own vo­li­tion, does not com­plete the pre­par­at­ory act, he is not li­able to any pen­alty.

3It is also an of­fence for any per­son to carry out a pre­par­at­ory act abroad, provided it was in­ten­ded to com­mit the of­fences in Switzer­land. Art­icle 3 para­graph 2 ap­plies.5


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 9 Oct. 1981, in force since 1 Oct. 1982 (AS 1982 1530 1534; BBl 1980 I 1241).
2 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 30 Sept. 2011 in force since 1 Ju­ly 2012 (AS 2012 2575; BBl 2010 5651 5677).
3 In­ser­ted by An­nex 2 No 1 of the Fed­er­al De­cree of 18 Dec. 2015 on the Ap­prov­al and Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the In­ter­na­tion­al Con­ven­tion for the Pro­tec­tion of All Per­sons from En­forced Dis­ap­pear­ance, in force since 1 Jan. 2017 (AS 2016 4687; BBl 2014 453).
4 Amended by No I 1 of the FA of 18 June 2010 on the Amend­ment of Fed­er­al Le­gis­la­tion in Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the Rome Statue of the In­ter­na­tion­al Crim­in­al Court, in force since 1 Jan. 2011 (AS 2010 4963; BBl 2008 3863).
5 Word­ing of the sen­tence in ac­cord­ance with No II 2 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 260ter  

Crim­in­al or­gan­isa­tion

 

1. Any per­son who par­ti­cip­ates in an or­gan­isa­tion, the struc­ture and per­son­al com­pos­i­tion of which is kept secret and which pur­sues the ob­ject­ive of com­mit­ting crimes of vi­ol­ence or se­cur­ing a fin­an­cial gain by crim­in­al means,

any per­son who sup­ports such an or­gan­isa­tion in its crim­in­al activ­it­ies,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. The court has the dis­cre­tion to mit­ig­ate the pen­alty im­posed (Art. 48a)2 if the of­fend­er makes an ef­fort to foil the crim­in­al activ­it­ies of the or­gan­isa­tion.

3. The fore­go­ing pen­al­ties also ap­ply to any per­son who com­mits the of­fence out­side Switzer­land provided the or­gan­isa­tion car­ries out or in­tends to carry out its crim­in­al activ­it­ies wholly or partly in Switzer­land. Art­icle 3 para­graph 2 ap­plies.3


1 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 18 March 1994, in force since 1 Aug. 1994 (AS 1994 1614 1618; BBl 1993 III 277).
2 Word­ing of the first part-sen­tence in ac­cord­ance with No II 2 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).
3 Word­ing of the sen­tence in ac­cord­ance with No II 2 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 260quater  

En­dan­ger­ing pub­lic safety with weapons

 

Any per­son who sells, hires, gifts, hands over or pro­cures fire­arms, weapons pro­hib­ited by law, es­sen­tial com­pon­ents of weapons, weapons ac­cessor­ies, am­muni­tion or com­pon­ents of am­muni­tion, al­though he knows or must as­sume that the weapons are in­ten­ded to be used to com­mit a felony or mis­de­mean­our is li­able, provided his activ­it­ies do not con­sti­tute a more ser­i­ous of­fence, to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.2


1 In­ser­ted by Art. 41 of the Weapons Act of 20 June 1997, in force since 1 Jan. 1999 (AS 1998 2535; BBl 1996 I 1053).
2 New des­ig­na­tion of crim­in­al pen­al­ties in ac­cord­ance with No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Art. 260quinquies  

Fin­an­cing ter­ror­ism

 

1Any per­son who col­lects or provides funds with a view to fin­an­cing a vi­ol­ent crime that is in­ten­ded to in­tim­id­ate the pub­lic or to co­erce a state or in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­isa­tion in­to car­ry­ing out or not car­ry­ing out an act is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2If the per­son merely ac­know­ledges the pos­sib­il­ity that the funds may be used to fin­ance ter­ror­ism, he is not li­able to a pen­alty un­der this Art­icle.

3The act does not con­sti­tute the fin­an­cing of a ter­ror­ist of­fence if it is car­ried out with a view to es­tab­lish­ing or re-es­tab­lish­ing a demo­crat­ic re­gime or a state gov­erned by the rule of law or with a view to ex­er­cising or safe­guard­ing hu­man rights.

4Para­graph 1 does not ap­ply if the fin­an­cing is in­ten­ded to sup­port acts that do not vi­ol­ate the rules of in­ter­na­tion­al law on the con­duct of armed con­flicts.


1 In­ser­ted by No I 1 of the FA of 21 March 2003 (Fin­an­cing of Ter­ror­ism), in force since 1 Oct. 2003 (AS 2003 3043 3047; BBl 2002 5390).

Art. 261  

At­tack on the free­dom of faith and the free­dom to wor­ship

 

Any per­son who pub­licly and ma­li­ciously in­sults or mocks the re­li­gious con­vic­tions of oth­ers, and in par­tic­u­larly their be­lief in God, or ma­li­ciously de­sec­rates ob­jects of re­li­gious ven­er­a­tion,

any per­son who ma­li­ciously pre­vents, dis­rupts or pub­licly mocks an act of wor­ship, the con­duct of which is guar­an­teed by the Con­sti­tu­tion, or

any per­son who ma­li­ciously de­sec­rates a place or ob­ject that is in­ten­ded for a re­li­gious ce­re­mony or an act of wor­ship the con­duct of which is guar­an­teed by the Con­sti­tu­tion,

is li­able to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.1


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Amend­ment to the Law on Crim­in­al Sanc­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2016 1249; BBl 2012 4721).

Art. 261bis  

Ra­cial dis­crim­in­a­tion

 

Any per­son who pub­licly in­cites hatred or dis­crim­in­a­tion against a per­son or a group of per­sons on the grounds of their race, eth­nic ori­gin or re­li­gion,

any per­son who pub­licly dis­sem­in­ates ideo­lo­gies that have as their ob­ject the sys­tem­at­ic den­ig­ra­tion or de­fam­a­tion of the mem­bers of a race, eth­nic group or re­li­gion,

any per­son who with the same ob­ject­ive or­gan­ises, en­cour­ages or par­ti­cip­ates in pro­pa­ganda cam­paigns,

any per­son who pub­licly den­ig­rates or dis­crim­in­ates against an­oth­er or a group of per­sons on the grounds of their race, eth­nic ori­gin or re­li­gion in a man­ner that vi­ol­ates hu­man dig­nity, wheth­er verbally, in writ­ing or pictori­ally, by us­ing ges­tures, through acts of ag­gres­sion or by oth­er means, or any per­son who on any of these grounds denies, trivi­al­ises or seeks jus­ti­fic­a­tion for gen­o­cide or oth­er crimes against hu­man­ity,

any per­son who re­fuses to provide a ser­vice to an­oth­er on the grounds of that per­son's race, eth­nic ori­gin or re­li­gion when that ser­vice is in­ten­ded to be provided to the gen­er­al pub­lic,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.


1 In­ser­ted by Art. 1 of the FA of 18 June 1993, in force since 1 Jan. 1995 (AS 1994 2887 2888; BBl 1992 III 269).

Art. 262  

Dis­turb­ing the peace of the dead

 

1. Any per­son who de­sec­rates the rest­ing place of a dead per­son,

Any per­son who ma­li­ciously dis­rupts or de­sec­rates a fu­ner­al pro­ces­sion or fu­ner­al ce­re­mony,

Any per­son who de­sec­rates or pub­licly in­sults a dead body,

is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. Any per­son who re­moves a dead body or part of a dead body or the ashes of a dead per­son against the will of those en­titled thereto is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 263  

Com­mit­ting an of­fence while in a state of vol­un­tar­ily in­duced men­tal in­ca­pa­city

 

1Any per­son who is in­cap­able of form­ing crim­in­al in­tent as a res­ult of vol­un­tar­ily in­duced in­tox­ic­a­tion through al­co­hol or drugs, and while in this state com­mits an act pun­ish­able as a felony or mis­de­mean­our is li­able to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.1

2If the of­fend­er has, in this self-in­duced state, com­mit­ted an act for which the only pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.2


1 Pen­al­ties re­vised by No II 1 of the FA of 19 June 2015 (Amend­ment to the Law on Crim­in­al Sanc­tions), in force since 1 Jan. 2018 (AS 2016 1249; BBl 2012 4721).
2 Amended by No II 1 para. 16 of the FA of 13 Dec. 2002, in force since 1 Jan. 2007 (AS 2006 3459 3535; BBl 1999 1979).

Title Twelve : Genocide and Crimes against Humanity

Art. 264  

Gen­o­cide

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life or a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than ten years for any per­son who with the in­tent to des­troy, in whole or in part, a group of per­sons char­ac­ter­ised by their na­tion­al­ity, race, re­li­gion or eth­nic, so­cial or polit­ic­al af­fil­i­ation:

a.
kills mem­bers of such a group, or ser­i­ously harms them phys­ic­ally or men­tally;
b.
in­flicts liv­ing con­di­tions on mem­bers of such a group that are cal­cu­lated to bring about its total or par­tial de­struc­tion;
c.
or­ders or takes meas­ures that are dir­ec­ted to­wards pre­vent­ing births with­in such a group; or
d.
for­cibly trans­fers chil­dren in such a group to an­oth­er group or ar­ranges for such chil­dren to be for­cibly trans­ferred to an­oth­er group
Art. 264a  

Crimes against hu­man­ity

a. In­ten­tion­al hom­icide

b. Ex­term­in­a­tion

c. En­slave­ment

d. False im­pris­on­ment

e. En­forced dis­ap­pear­ance of per­sons

f. Tor­ture

g. Vi­ol­a­tion of sexu­al rights

h. De­port­a­tion or for­cible trans­fer

i. Per­se­cu­tion and apartheid

j. Oth­er in­hu­mane acts

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than five years for any per­son who, as part of a wide­spread or sys­tem­at­ic at­tack dir­ec­ted against any ci­vil­ian pop­u­la­tion:

a.
in­ten­tion­ally kills an­oth­er per­son;
b.
in­ten­tion­ally kills a num­ber of per­sons or in­ten­tion­ally in­flicts con­di­tions of life cal­cu­lated to bring about the de­struc­tion of all or part of the pop­u­la­tion;
c.
as­sumes and ex­er­cises a right of own­er­ship over a per­son, in par­tic­u­lar in the form of traf­fick­ing in per­sons, sexu­al ex­ploit­a­tion or forced la­bour;
d.
severely de­prives a per­son of his or her liberty in vi­ol­a­tion of the fun­da­ment­al rules of in­ter­na­tion­al law;
e.
and with the in­ten­tion of re­mov­ing a per­son from the pro­tec­tion of the law for a pro­longed peri­od of time:
1.
on be­half of or with the ac­qui­es­cence of a State or polit­ic­al or­gan­isa­tion, de­prives that per­son of his or her liberty, and there­after re­fuses to give in­form­a­tion on his or her fate or where­abouts, or
2.
on be­half of or with the ac­qui­es­cence of a State or polit­ic­al or­gan­isa­tion or in vi­ol­a­tion of a leg­al duty re­fuses to give in­form­a­tion on the fate or where­abouts of the per­son con­cerned;
f.
in­flicts severe pain or suf­fer­ing or ser­i­ous in­jury, wheth­er phys­ic­al or men­tal, on a per­son in his or her cus­tody or un­der his or her con­trol;
g.
rapes a per­son of the fe­male gender or, after she has been for­cibly made preg­nant, con­fines her un­law­fully with the in­tent of af­fect­ing the eth­nic com­pos­i­tion of a pop­u­la­tion, forces a per­son to tol­er­ate a sexu­al act of com­par­able sever­ity or forces a per­son in­to pros­ti­tu­tion or to be ster­il­ised;
h.
ex­pels or by oth­er co­er­cive acts dis­places per­sons from an area in which they are law­fully present;
i.
in vi­ol­a­tion of in­ter­na­tion­al law and for polit­ic­al, ra­cist, eth­nic, re­li­gious, so­cial or oth­er reas­ons, severely denies or de­prives a group of people of fun­da­ment­al rights in con­nec­tion with an of­fence un­der Title Twelvebis or Title Twelveter or for the pur­pose of the sys­tem­at­ic op­pres­sion or dom­in­a­tion of an eth­nic group;
j.
com­mits any oth­er act of a com­par­able ser­i­ous­ness to the felon­ies men­tioned in this para­graph and thereby causes severe pain or suf­fer­ing or ser­i­ous in­jury, wheth­er phys­ic­al or men­tal, to a per­son.

2In es­pe­cially ser­i­ous cases, and in par­tic­u­lar where the of­fence af­fects a num­ber of per­sons or the of­fend­er acts in a cruel man­ner, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life may be im­posed.

3In less ser­i­ous cases un­der para­graph 1 let­ters c-j, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year may be im­posed.

Title Twelve : War Crimes

Art. 264b  

1. Scope of ap­plic­a­tion

 

Art­icles 264d-264j ap­ply in con­nec­tion with in­ter­na­tion­al armed con­flicts in­clud­ing oc­cu­pa­tions as well as, un­less the nature the of­fences re­quires oth­er­wise, in con­nec­tion with non-in­ter­na­tion­al armed con­flicts.

Art. 264c  

2. Ser­i­ous vi­ol­a­tions of the Geneva Con­ven­tions

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than five years for any per­son who com­mits a ser­i­ous vi­ol­a­tion of the Geneva Con­ven­tions of 12 Au­gust 19491 in con­nec­tion with an in­ter­na­tion­al armed con­flict by car­ry­ing out any of the fol­low­ing acts against per­sons or prop­erty pro­tec­ted un­der the Con­ven­tions:

a.
in­ten­tion­al hom­icide;
b.
host­age tak­ing;
c.
caus­ing severe pain or suf­fer­ing or ser­i­ous in­jury, wheth­er phys­ic­al or men­tal, in par­tic­u­lar by tor­ture, in­hu­man treat­ment or bio­lo­gic­al ex­per­i­ments;
d.
ex­tens­ive de­struc­tion and ap­pro­pri­ation of prop­erty not jus­ti­fied by mil­it­ary ne­ces­sity and car­ried out un­law­fully and wan­tonly;
e.
com­pel­ling a per­son to serve in the forces of a hos­tile power;
f.
un­law­ful de­port­a­tion or trans­fer or un­law­ful con­fine­ment;
g.
deny­ing the right to a fair and reg­u­lar tri­al be­fore the im­pos­i­tion or ex­e­cu­tion of a severe pen­alty.

2Acts in terms of para­graph 1 com­mit­ted in con­nec­tion with a non-in­ter­na­tion­al armed con­flict are equi­val­ent to ser­i­ous vi­ol­a­tions of in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law if they are dir­ec­ted against a per­son or prop­erty pro­tec­ted by in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law.

3In es­pe­cially ser­i­ous cases, and in par­tic­u­lar where the of­fence af­fects a num­ber of per­sons or the of­fend­er acts in a cruel man­ner, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life may be im­posed.

4In less ser­i­ous cases un­der para­graph 1 let­ters c-g, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year may be im­posed.


1 Geneva Con­ven­tion of 12 Aug. 1949 for the Ameli­or­a­tion of the Con­di­tion of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (GA I), SR 0.518.12; Geneva Con­ven­tion of 12 Aug. 1949 for the Ameli­or­a­tion of the Con­di­tion of the Wounded and Sick and Ship­wrecked Mem­bers of Armed Forces at Sea (GA II), SR 0.518.23; Geneva Con­ven­tion of 12 Aug. 1949 re­l­at­ive to the Treat­ment of Pris­on­ers of War (GA III), SR 0.518.42; Geneva Con­ven­tion of 12 Aug. 1949 re­l­at­ive to the Pro­tec­tion of Ci­vil­ian Per­sons in Time of War (GA IV), SR 0.518.51.

Art. 264d  

3. Oth­er war crimes

a. At­tacks on ci­vil­ians and ci­vil­ian ob­jects

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years for any per­son who in con­nec­tion with an armed con­flict dir­ects an at­tack:

a.
against the ci­vil­ian pop­u­la­tion as such or against in­di­vidu­al ci­vil­ians not tak­ing dir­ect part in hos­til­it­ies;
b.
against per­son­nel, in­stall­a­tions, ma­ter­i­al or vehicles in­volved in a hu­man­it­ari­an as­sist­ance or peace­keep­ing mis­sion in ac­cord­ance with the Charter of the United Na­tions of 26 June 19451, as long as they are en­titled to the pro­tec­tion of in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law;
c.
against ci­vil­ian ob­jects, un­defen­ded set­tle­ments or build­ings or de­mil­it­ar­ised zones that are not mil­it­ary ob­ject­ives;
d.
against med­ic­al units, ma­ter­i­al or vehicles us­ing a dis­tinct­ive em­blem un­der in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law or whose pro­tec­ted char­ac­ter is re­cog­nis­able even without a dis­tinct­ive em­blem, hos­pit­als and places where the sick and wounded are col­lec­ted;
e.
against cul­tur­al prop­erty or per­sons en­trus­ted with its pro­tec­tion or vehicles for its trans­port, against build­ings ded­ic­ated to re­li­gion, edu­ca­tion, art, sci­ence or char­it­able pur­poses, provided they are pro­tec­ted by in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law.

2In es­pe­cially ser­i­ous cases of at­tacks on per­sons, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life may be im­posed.

3In less ser­i­ous cases, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year may be im­posed.


1 SR 0.120

Art. 264e  

b. Un­jus­ti­fied med­ic­al treat­ment, vi­ol­a­tion of sexu­al rights and hu­man dig­nity

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years for any per­son who, in con­nec­tion with an armed con­flict:

a.
causes severe pain or suf­fer­ing or ser­i­ous in­jury or danger, wheth­er phys­ic­al or men­tal, to a per­son pro­tec­ted by in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law by sub­ject­ing that per­son to a med­ic­al pro­ced­ure that is not jus­ti­fied by the state of his or her health and which does com­ply with gen­er­ally re­cog­nised med­ic­al prin­ciples;
b.
rapes a per­son of the fe­male gender pro­tec­ted by in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law or, after she has been for­cibly made preg­nant, con­fines her un­law­fully with the in­tent of af­fect­ing the eth­nic com­pos­i­tion of a pop­u­la­tion, forces a per­son to tol­er­ate a sexu­al act of com­par­able sever­ity or forces a per­son pro­tec­ted by in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law in­to pros­ti­tu­tion or to be ster­il­ised;
c.
sub­jects a per­son pro­tec­ted by in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law to es­pe­cially hu­mi­li­at­ing and de­grad­ing treat­ment.

2In es­pe­cially ser­i­ous cases, and in par­tic­u­lar where the of­fence af­fects a num­ber of per­sons or the of­fend­er acts in a cruel man­ner, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life may be im­posed.

3In less ser­i­ous cases, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year may be im­posed.

Art. 264f  

c. Re­cruit­ment and use of child sol­diers

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years for any per­son who en­lists a child un­der the age of fif­teen in­to armed forces or groups or re­cruit­ing them for this pur­pose or us­ing them to par­ti­cip­ate in armed con­flicts.

2In es­pe­cially ser­i­ous cases, and in par­tic­u­lar where the of­fence af­fects a num­ber of chil­dren or the of­fend­er acts in a cruel man­ner, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life may be im­posed

3In less ser­i­ous cases, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year may be im­posed.

Art. 264g  

d. Pro­hib­ited meth­ods of war­fare

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years for any per­son who, in con­nec­tion with an armed con­flict:

a.
launches an at­tack al­though he knows or must as­sume that such an at­tack will cause loss of life or in­jury to ci­vil­ians or dam­age to ci­vil­ian ob­jects or wide­spread, long-term and severe dam­age to the nat­ur­al en­vir­on­ment which would be clearly ex­cess­ive in re­la­tion to the con­crete and dir­ect over­all mil­it­ary ad­vant­age an­ti­cip­ated;
b.
uses a per­son pro­tec­ted by in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law as a hu­man shield in or­der to in­flu­ence mil­it­ary op­er­a­tions;
c.
as a meth­od of war­fare, pil­lages or oth­er­wise un­law­fully ap­pro­pri­ates prop­erty or des­troys or seizes en­emy prop­erty in a way not im­per­at­ively de­man­ded by the ne­ces­sit­ies of war, de­prives ci­vil­ians of ob­jects in­dis­pens­able to their sur­viv­al or im­pedes re­lief sup­plies;
d.
kills or wounds an en­emy com­batant treach­er­ously or after he or she has laid down his or her arms or no longer has a means of de­fence;
e.
mu­til­ates a dead en­emy com­batant;
f.
as the com­mand­er or­ders that no quarter be giv­en or threatens the en­emy that no quarter will be giv­en;
g.
makes im­prop­er use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the mil­it­ary in­signia and uni­form of the en­emy or of the United Na­tions, or the dis­tinct­ive em­blems un­der in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law;
h.
as a mem­ber of an oc­cupy­ing power, trans­fers parts of its own ci­vil­ian pop­u­la­tion in­to the ter­rit­ory it is oc­cupy­ing or de­ports all or parts of the pop­u­la­tion of the oc­cu­pied ter­rit­ory with­in or out­side that ter­rit­ory.

2In es­pe­cially ser­i­ous cases, and in par­tic­u­lar where the of­fence af­fects a num­ber of per­sons or the of­fend­er acts in a cruel man­ner, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life may be im­posed.

3In less ser­i­ous cases, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year may be im­posed.

Art. 264h  

e. Use of pro­hib­ited weapons

 

1The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than three years for any per­son who, in con­nec­tion with an armed con­flict:

a.
em­ploys pois­on or poisoned weapons;
b.
em­ploys bio­lo­gic­al or chem­ic­al weapons, in­clud­ing pois­on­ous or as­phyxi­at­ing gases, sub­stances and li­quids;
c.
em­ploys bul­lets which ex­pand or flat­ten eas­ily or ex­plode in the hu­man body;
d.
em­ploys weapons primar­ily de­signed to cause in­jury through splin­ters that can­not be de­tec­ted by x-ray equip­ment;
e.
em­ploys laser weapons primar­ily de­signed to cause per­man­ent blind­ness.

2In es­pe­cially ser­i­ous cases, a cus­todi­al sen­tence of life may be im­posed

Art. 264i  

4. Vi­ol­a­tion of a cease­fire or peace agree­ment. Of­fences against a peace ne­go­ti­at­or. Delayed re­pat­ri­ation of pris­on­ers of war

 

The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty for any per­son who:

a.
con­tin­ues mil­it­ary op­er­a­tions after re­ceiv­ing of­fi­cial no­ti­fic­a­tion of an agree­ment on a cease­fire or a peace agree­ment, or vi­ol­ates the con­di­tions of the cease­fire in some oth­er way;
b.
ab­uses, in­sults or without reas­on ob­structs an op­pos­ing peace ne­go­ti­at­or or any of his party;
c.
without jus­ti­fic­a­tion delays the re­pat­ri­ation of pris­on­ers of war after con­clu­sion of mil­it­ary op­er­a­tions.
Art. 264j  

5. Oth­er vi­ol­a­tions of in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law

 

The pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty for any per­son who in con­nec­tion with an armed con­flict vi­ol­ates a pro­vi­sion of in­ter­na­tion­al hu­man­it­ari­an law oth­er than those men­tioned in Art­icles 264c-264i, where such a vi­ol­a­tion is de­clared to be an of­fence un­der cus­tom­ary in­ter­na­tion­al law or an in­ter­na­tion­al treaty re­cog­nised as bind­ing by Switzer­land.

Title Twelve : Common Provisions for Title Twelve and Title Twelve

Art. 264k  

Crim­in­al li­ab­il­ity of su­per­i­ors

 

1A su­per­i­or who is aware that a sub­or­din­ate is car­ry­ing out or will carry out an act un­der the Title Twelvebis or Title Twelveter and who fails to take ap­pro­pri­ate meas­ures to pre­vent the act is li­able to the same pen­alty as the per­pet­rat­or of the act. If the su­per­i­or fails to pre­vent the act through neg­li­gence, the pen­alty is a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2A su­per­i­or who is aware that a sub­or­din­ate has car­ried out an act un­der Title Twelvebis or Title Twelveter and who fails to take ap­pro­pri­ate meas­ures to en­sure the pro­sec­u­tion of the per­pet­rat­or of the act is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing three years or a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

Art. 264l  

Act­ing on or­ders

 

A sub­or­din­ate who, on or­ders from a su­per­i­or or on or­ders of equi­val­ent bind­ing ef­fect, car­ries out an act un­der Title Twelvebis or Title Twelveter is guilty of an of­fence if he was aware at the time that the act is an of­fence.

Art. 264m  

Acts car­ried out abroad

 

1A per­son who car­ries out an act un­der Title Twelvebis, Title Twelveter or Art­icle 264k while abroad is guilty of an of­fence if he is in Switzer­land and is not ex­tra­dited to an­oth­er State or de­livered to an in­ter­na­tion­al crim­in­al court whose jur­is­dic­tion is re­cog­nised by Switzer­land.

2Where the vic­tim of the act car­ried out abroad is not Swiss and the per­pet­rat­or is not Swiss, the pro­sec­u­tion, with the ex­cep­tion of meas­ures to se­cure evid­ence, may be aban­doned or may be dis­pensed with provided:

a.
a for­eign au­thor­ity or an in­ter­na­tion­al crim­in­al court whose jur­is­dic­tion is re­cog­nised by Switzer­land is pro­sec­ut­ing the of­fence and the sus­pec­ted per­pet­rat­or is ex­tra­dited or de­livered to the court; or
b.
the sus­pec­ted per­pet­rat­or is no longer in Switzer­land and is not ex­pec­ted to re­turn there.

3Art­icle 7 para­graphs 4 and 5 ap­plies un­less the ac­quit­tal, or the re­mis­sion or ap­plic­a­tion of time lim­its for the ex­e­cu­tion of the sen­tence abroad has the aim of pro­tect­ing the of­fend­er from pun­ish­ment without jus­ti­fic­a­tion.

Art. 264n  

Ex­clu­sion of re­l­at­ive im­munity

 

The pro­sec­u­tion of of­fences un­der Title Twelvebis, Title Twelveter and un­der Art­icle 264k does not re­quire au­thor­isa­tion in ac­cord­ance with any of the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions:

a.
Art­icle 7 para­graph 2 let­ter b of the Crim­in­al Pro­ced­ure Code1;
b.
Art­icle 14 and 15 of the Gov­ern­ment Li­ab­il­ity Act of 14 March 19582;
c.
Art­icle 17 of the Par­lia­ment Act of 13 Decem­ber 20023;
d.
Art­icle 61a of the Gov­ern­ment and Ad­min­is­tra­tion Or­gan­isa­tion Act of 21 March 19974;
e.
Art­icle 11 of the Fed­er­al Su­preme Court Act of 17 June 20055;
f.
Art­icle 12 of the Fed­er­al Ad­min­is­trat­ive Court Act of 17 June 20056;
g.
Art­icle 16 of the Pat­ent Court Act of 20. March 20097;
h.
Art­icle 50 of the Crim­in­al Justice Au­thor­it­ies Act of 19 March 20108.

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