Swiss Criminal Code

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. If the of­fend­er aban­dons the co­er­cion and re­leases the vic­tim, a re­duced pen­alty may be im­posed (Art. 48a).²

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