Swiss Criminal Code

1. Any per­son who, with a view to se­cur­ing an un­law­ful gain for him­self or for an­oth­er, in­duces an­oth­er per­son by us­ing vi­ol­ence or the threat of ser­i­ously det­ri­ment­al con­sequences to be­have in such a way that he or an­oth­er sus­tains fin­an­cial loss is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence not ex­ceed­ing five years or to a mon­et­ary pen­alty.

2. If the of­fend­er acts for com­mer­cial gain, or if he re­peatedly com­mits the of­fence against the same per­son,

he is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of from one to ten years.

3. If the of­fend­er uses vi­ol­ence against an­oth­er or if he threatens an­oth­er with an im­me­di­ate danger to life and limb, a pen­alty in ac­cord­ance with Art­icle 140 here­of is im­posed.

4. If the of­fend­er threatens to en­danger the life and limb of a large num­ber of per­sons or to cause ser­i­ous dam­age to prop­erty in which there is a sub­stan­tial pub­lic in­terest, he is li­able to a cus­todi­al sen­tence of not less than one year¹.