Swiss top court upholds fourteen-year sentence for former police chief Erwin Sperisen
The Federal Supreme Court rejected Erwin Sperisen’s appeal against his conviction for aiding seven murders at Guatemala’s Pavón prison. The judgment of 8 September was published on 22 October.
Erwin Sperisen, Guatemala’s former national police chief, remains convicted and sentenced to fourteen years in prison for aiding the murder of seven prisoners. Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court dismissed his appeal insofar as it was admissible. The judgment in case 6B_41/2025 was delivered on 8 September 2026 and published on 22 October, upholding the Geneva appeal court’s conviction of 12 September 2024. According to regional broadcaster Léman Bleu, he had already served this sentence.
The case concerns the police operation of 25 September 2006 to regain control of Pavón prison. Sperisen headed Guatemala’s police from 2004 to 2007 and was arrested in Geneva in 2012. An earlier conviction had to be reconsidered after the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of the right to an impartial tribunal in 2023. The new Geneva proceedings resulted in the fourteen-year sentence in 2024.
Sperisen relied, among other arguments, on another participant’s acquittal in Austria. The Federal Supreme Court held that this did not prevent examination of that person’s conduct when assessing Sperisen’s own responsibility. It also upheld the reduction from fifteen to fourteen years for excessive proceedings. Sperisen must pay 3,000 Swiss francs in federal appeal costs.
