'Foreign pig' and 'dirty asylum seeker' insulting but not against anti-racism law because specific ethnic group not mentioned

Calling someone a "foreign pig" or "dirty asylum seeker" is insulting but is not against Switzerland's anti-racism law, the country's top court has ruled.

The federal tribunal found in favour of a police officer who had used the slurs when he arrested an Algerian suspected of being a thief. The incident took place at a trade fair in the northern city of Basel in April 2007, where the Algerian was detained for allegedly snatching a Russian man's bag. After checking the suspect's identity papers, the policeman discovered that he was an asylum seeker and insulted him.

As a result the officer received a suspended fine for breaking the country's anti-racism laws. After the penalty was overturned by another court, the case worked its way up to the top of the Swiss justice system.

The tribunal said that while such terms were clearly insulting, they were too broad to fall foul of the country's anti-racism rules because they did not target a particular ethnic group, race or religion.

It also said that calling someone "dirty" – even if the individual's nationality was mentioned – was not against the anti-racism law. AFP Geneva