Bernard Rappaz

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Bernard Rappaz (born February 18, 1953 ) is a Swiss farmer from the canton of Valais . He became known for his cannabis production and is therefore called " hemp farmer ".

Life

In the 1990s, Rappaz began fighting for the liberalization of the hemp trade and consumption. In November 2008 , the Martigny District Court found him guilty of growing hemp between 1996 and 2001, of violating the Narcotics Act and of having committed money laundering . The police had confiscated around 50 tons of hemp from him. At the court hearing, he confessed that he had sold five tons and received a total of around five million francs (= approx. 3.5 million euros). He also asserted the "healing powers of marijuana ". Bernard Rappaz was sentenced to six years in prison; the responsible public prosecutor had asked for ten years.

On March 20, 2010, he was imprisoned in Sion . He went on hunger strike to protest what he believed to be illegal criminal proceedings against him. He was moved to the prison wing of the Inselspital in Bern . The Valais State Councilor Esther Waeber-Kalbermatten ordered force-feeding for the dying person in July 2010 . On July 21, the competent Valais authorities placed him under house arrest at his home in Saxon . For now, he ended his hunger strike.

On August 26, 2010, the Federal Supreme Court dismissed Rappaz's complaint against the failure to grant the break in a public judgment session. It ruled that the conditions for an interruption of the sentence were not met. If necessary, the prison authorities could order force-feeding, provided that permanent damage or death of the inmate could not be averted otherwise. Rappaz was then sent to prison, where he again went on a hunger strike. On November 11, 2010, the Cantonal Court of Valais rejected a renewed complaint against the refusal to interrupt custody after 77 days of hunger strike.

On November 18, 2010, a pardon was rejected by the members of the Valais Grand Council in a vote.

According to media reports from December 23, 2010, Rappaz decided to end his hunger strike after 120 days on December 24 (at times with vitamins, salt and sugared tea). This on the advice of the European Court of Human Rights , to which he had turned after it had failed in all domestic instances. The court had denied Rappaz's demand for immediate action and asked him to suspend his hunger strike during the trial.

In May 2011, Rappaz was sentenced to an additional year imprisonment without parole. The court found him guilty of money laundering, violating the Narcotics Act and forging documents . Rappaz's defense attorney announced his appeal .

Autobiography

  • Pioneer! Favre, Lausanne 2013
    • The pioneer. The adventurous life story of a hemp bark . Nightshade, Solothurn 2016, ISBN 978-3-03788-397-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Press release from the Federal Supreme Court. Federal court dismisses Bernard Rappaz's appeal. (No longer available online.) August 26, 2010, archived from the original on December 2, 2010 ; Retrieved November 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bger.ch
  2. ↑ Tribunal fédérale, Cour de droit pénal: Arrêt du 26 août 2010. Interruption de l'exécution de la peine privative de liberté. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 17, 2012 ; accessed on November 12, 2010 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jumpcgi.bger.ch
  3. ↑ No break in prison for Rappaz. Cantonal court rejects appeal - politics interferes. NZZ Online, November 12, 2010, accessed on November 12, 2010 .
  4. ↑ Bernard Rappaz and the windmills of hemp legalization ( memento from November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) in: Swiss television from November 18, 2010
  5. ↑ Rappaz ends hunger strike - Waeber relieved in: Schweizer Fernsehen from December 23, 2010
  6. ^ Valais hemp farmer Rappaz again found guilty in: Schweizer Fernsehen from May 10, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Rappaz, Bernard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss farmer, "hemp farmer"
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1953