The Brusio killing
In 1989, 36-year-old Swiss border guard Kurt Moser was shot dead at Brusio on the Swiss-Italian border. Prosecutors accused Marco Camenisch, a self-described anarchist associated with militant anti-nuclear activism, of the killing. Camenisch denied responsibility, but a Zürich court later found that the evidence established his guilt.
A long criminal history before trial
Camenisch had previously been convicted for attacks on electricity infrastructure in Switzerland. He escaped from Regensdorf prison in 1981 and remained a fugitive for years. During the escape, one prison guard was killed and another wounded; in the later Swiss proceedings, Camenisch was acquitted of attempted murder in connection with the surviving guard. He was arrested in Italy in 1991 after a shootout with police and later served an Italian sentence for offenses committed there.
Conviction and retrial
In June 2004, a Zürich court convicted Camenisch of Moser's murder and sentenced him to 17 years in prison. Switzerland's Federal Court later annulled the sentence on procedural and proportionality grounds, finding that the punishment did not adequately account for the lengthy sentence he had already served in Italy. At a 2007 retrial, the Zürich court reduced the Swiss murder sentence to eight years. The murder conviction itself remained in force.
Why the case mattered
The case drew national attention because it combined a decades-long fugitive history, militant political activism, cross-border prosecutions and difficult sentencing questions. The retrial did not reopen the finding that Camenisch was guilty of killing Moser; it reconsidered the length and form of the punishment.
Sources and further reading
Case context
Crime by Region uses the final court findings when describing responsibility. Camenisch's political views and earlier convictions provide context, but they do not substitute for the evidence and judgment in the Moser murder case.