Three Zug residents intervened courageously but deliberately

Two young women and a young man were awarded this year's Zug Prize for Civil Courage.

"It's the highlight of the day," said government councillor (Regierungsrätin) Laura Dittli of the event, which followed the meeting of security leaders in Saal Heinrich von Hünenberg in Hünenberg. In front of the people who are responsible for security in the canton of Zug, Louisiana Kaeser, Vanessa Velauthampillai and Giacomo Damiani were honoured with the Zug Prize for Civil Courage.

They had intervened in a difficult situation on the platform of an SBB stop in Steinhausen last October. According to police commander Thomas Armbruster, a young man was violently attacked by an older one, who threw him to the ground, tried to choke him and repeatedly hit him. When Giacomo Damiani tried to separate the attacker from the victim, he in turn was punched in the side.

Only when the two women rushed to Damiani's aid was it possible to separate the perpetrator from his victim and alert the police. The victim was subsequently taken to the hospital for checks.

Happy faces after the award ceremony (from left to right): Security Director Laura Dittli, award winners Louisiana Kaeser, Giacomo Damiani and Vanessa Velauthampillai, and Thomas Armbruster, commander of the Zug police                Photo: Matthias Jurt

For the Italian Giacomo Damiani, who has been working for a company in Baar since last year, it was "a very special experience". As a Milanese, he would never have expected to witness such an incident in "well-ordered Switzerland", as he told the Zuger Zeitung local newspaper.

A concern for society
The prize, introduced in 2010 as part of the "Together against Violence" (Gemeinsam gegen Gewalt) project and endowed with CHF 1,000, makes it clear that this social concern is still valid. "You saw what was happening but didn’t look away, and intervened courageously but deliberately," said the security director, thanking the laureates on behalf of those present.

For her part, Vanessa Velauthampillai expressed her thanks for the honour, and revealed the thoughts she had in the aftermath of the event. "Assessing the situation, maintaining one's own safety and making a conscious decision to intervene is of great importance here," she was convinced. In an actual appeal, she addressed those in attendance, "Let's muster the courage together to do the right thing, whether individually or through collective intervention."

A three-member jury chaired by the Security Directorate selects the winners each year from entries received from the public and the Zug Police Department. Each year, a different Zug municipality takes on the patronage and finances half of the prize money. Hünenberg was the patron community this year.