Enough is enough

SVP cantonal councillor Michael Riboni is campaigning in favour of the federal popular initiative ‘Stop asylum abuse!’

Michael Riboni is the cantonal councillor (Kantonsrat) from the right-wing SVP (Swiss People’s party) in Baar. In the 'Personal View' column (Zuger Ansichten) of the Zuger Zeitung newspaper, he has raised his concerns regarding the Swiss immigration policy, and expressing his support for the “Stop asylum abuse” initiative (Asylmissbrauch stoppen!).

He regards a case heard by the Zurich district court (Bezirksgericht Zürich) last January as being exemplary of the ‘asylum madness’ in Switzerland: in February 2023, an Eritrean man beat up two women he didn't know at Zurich Main Station. His reason? One of the women had brushed against his trolley case, whereupon he kicked her in the face several times with heavy boots, even as she was lying unconscious on the ground. A 16-year-old girl who tried to help was also kicked in the face. The main victim still suffers from visual impairment, is unable to work and is undergoing therapy.

The perpetrator came to Switzerland from Eritrea in 2013 because he didn’t want to join the army. He is now a recognised refugee and has been living on social welfare since 2021. Between 2018 and 2022, the Eritrean received six convictions for violent offences. Despite his prison sentence, however, he remains a recognised refugee. The Eritrean was released from prison just two months before the brutal act of violence at the main railway station, and was on his way back from holiday at the time of the crime.

The Public Prosecutor's Office believes that he and his brother had, in fact, travelled to Eritrea to visit their mother, who still lives there. The holiday in the ‘persecutor state’ lasted a month in total. And now? He will spend the next few years undergoing treatment at the taxpayer's expense. The District Court of Zurich sentenced the Eritrean to 10 years' imprisonment, but suspended this in favour of inpatient therapy due to a high degree of criminal incompetence.

The Eritrean is now in a high-security ward at a psychiatric clinic. The cost: around CHF 50,000 per month, or CHF 600,000 per year. The main victim of his violence received CHF 100,000 in compensation - theoretically from the perpetrator. In practice, from the victim support organisation (Opferhilfe), i.e. the taxpayer.
Added to this are the previous costs for his asylum procedure, the penal system, social welfare and free lawyers.

Michael Riboni also states that the canton of Zug is feeling the effects of this more and more. Crime is on the rise, and the statistics speak for themselves. Between 2020 and 2023, a total of 921 criminal offences were committed by asylum seekers living in the canton of Zug. 

And according to a recent statement from the Zug Police, between 1st October 2024 and the 21st January 2025 alone, a total of 25 people were arrested who had previously committed burglaries in residential and commercial properties, or had carried out thefts from vehicles. Of those arrested, 22 were foreign nationals (88%), mainly asylum migrants from Algeria and Morocco (see, for example, our recent reports on 10th March, 24th and 10th February, and 6th January 2025). 

The article from Michael Riboni can be found, in German on:
https://www.zugerzeitung.ch/zentralschweiz/zug/kolumne-zuger-ansichten-es-ist-genug-beenden-wir-diesen-asyl-wahnsinn-ld.2744502