Harassment and electronic tagging
Harassment and electronic tagging
Since we split up last year, my ex has been calling me constantly, even at night, sending me often threatening text messages and emails, coming up to me outside my building and following me in the street. I've already lodged a complaint, but despite a criminal conviction, he's still at it! A friend told me that I can apply to the civil court to have him forced to wear an electronic tag. How does this work?
C.
You can apply for civil measures to protect your personality if you have been unlawfully infringed within the meaning of articles 28 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code (CC). Such infringement is considered unlawful in principle, unless it is justified by the victim's consent, by an overriding interest - private or public - or by the law. Reading you, none of these justifications seems applicable in your case.
In the event of violence, threats or harassment, a person may ask the judge to prohibit the perpetrator from approaching him or her or gaining access to a specific perimeter around his or her home, from frequenting certain places, from contacting him or her (by telephone, in writing or electronically) or from causing him or her any other disturbance.
As of 1 January 2022, the judge who orders such bans may also, on request, order the perpetrator to wear a "non-removable electronic device that makes it possible to determine and record the perpetrator's whereabouts at any time".
This device, which is none other than the electronic bracelet you mentioned, will record the movements of the person under surveillance at all times. This measure can be imposed for a renewable period of six months.
However, this surveillance is known aspassiveThis would mean that if an alarm is generated because the person under surveillance does not respect a ban on approaching a certain perimeter, it will not be immediately followed by an intervention on the spot by the police. This would require significant resources that the cantons do not currently have, such as a 24-hour surveillance centre. The electronic bracelet, as currently provided for in the new legal provisions, therefore has more of a preventive role; it can also be used as evidence if necessary.
Finally, you should know that if necessary you can apply for these personality protection measures to be imposed as an urgent provisional measure, in the hope that this will enable you to make your former partner understand once and for all the extent to which his behaviour is unacceptable.
