Michel Peiry, the “Sadist of Romont”

The victims

Michel Peiry, born in 1959 and known in the Swiss press as the "sadist of Romont", after the town in the canton of Fribourg associated with him, targeted young men and teenage boys, many of them hitchhikers he picked up by car. Investigators linked him to crimes in several cantons of western Switzerland, in Ticino and, by his own account, in other countries. Swiss reporting describes his 1989 conviction as covering four murders and two attempted murders, but the full number of victims has never been firmly established. One case that brought Ticino police into the inquiry concerned a young person from that canton who died in 1986. Other cases reported in connection with him include a 14-year-old killed at Albinen in Valais, a teenager whose body was found near Orsières, also in Valais, and a hitchhiker who escaped near La Chaux-de-Fonds.

What happened

Over several years in the 1980s, Peiry followed a consistent pattern: offering lifts to young travellers, taking them to isolated places and attacking them, then trying to destroy evidence. A former Ticino police officer later described his car as a trap that victims could enter but not leave. The turning point came on 24 April 1987, when a 16-year-old was picked up and attacked but survived and managed to reach the village of Sottens to raise the alarm. His account proved decisive.

Investigation and arrest

Using the survivor's description, police circulated a composite sketch, which was published in the press. According to the former Ticino officer, Peiry's brother went to the police to say the suspect might be him. On 1 May 1987 Peiry was arrested while completing a military refresher course. In questioning he confessed to a long list of crimes in Switzerland and abroad, and Ticino investigators interviewed him at length in Bellinzona. He later withdrew some of these admissions. That mix of confessions and retractions is why the exact toll remains uncertain and why reported figures vary.

Trial and sentence

On 31 October 1989, the district court for Entremont in Valais convicted Peiry of murder, attempted murder, robbery, coercion, unlawful deprivation of liberty and abduction, and sexual offences, including offences against children. He received a life sentence together with an order for outpatient psychiatric treatment. The court also ordered him to pay 75,000 Swiss francs in compensation to the survivor of the April 1987 attack, who later said publicly that he never received the money and was given no psychological support. The case left a deep mark on Romont and on French-speaking Switzerland.

Life behind bars and recent rulings

According to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, Peiry has been detained since 1 May 1987 and has never been granted any leave or outing; one report on the 2026 ruling instead dates his custody from 1989, the year of his sentence. On 22 May 2023 he asked for escorted outings as a first step towards easing his sentence. The prison's social service and the Valais commission that assesses dangerous offenders both advised against it in 2024, and the cantonal sanctions office refused the request in September 2024 and again in January 2025. The Valais cantonal court dismissed his appeal in April 2025. A psychiatric expert report dated 29 March 2024 found that his risk of reoffending was low inside prison but very high if his detention were relaxed.

In a judgment dated 11 February 2026 and published on 11 March, the Federal Supreme Court upheld the refusal. It found the risk assessment was not arbitrary and that the refusal did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights, noting that he had not seriously worked through the behaviour patterns behind his crimes in therapy and that there is no right to reintegration as such. It left open a future outing if therapy brings progress and a new expert assessment finds the risk sufficiently reduced. It did rule in his favour on one point, granting him legal aid for the cantonal proceedings. He was 67 at the time.

Why the case matters

The Peiry case shows how Swiss law handles offenders judged to remain dangerous decades after sentencing. In its 2026 ruling the Federal Supreme Court said a life sentence is generally served until death and release is the exception, but that it remains compatible with human rights law only if a realistic prospect of review exists. Inmates therefore keep the right to ask for relaxations, while courts give strong weight to expert findings on risk.

Switzerland has also built a separate tool for such cases. On 8 February 2004, voters approved a popular initiative creating Article 123a of the Federal Constitution, which allows lifelong internment for sexual or violent offenders judged extremely dangerous and untreatable; the implementing rules took effect on 1 August 2008. Peiry was sentenced long before that regime existed, which is why his case is decided under the ordinary rules for life sentences.