Police charged over death of drug smuggler
Three Swiss police officers and a doctor have been charged with negligent homicide over the death of a Palestinian who suffocated as police tried to deport him.
Buelach district attorney's office says it is demanding five-month suspended sentences against the three police officers who handled Khaled Abuzarifeh and against the doctor who declared him fit to travel.
Abuzarifeh, 27, died on March 3, 1999 in the elevator of an office building at Zurich Airport as officers took him to a flight to Cairo. He had been gagged to keep him from crying out.
Abuzarifeh had been expelled from Switzerland for five years after he was found guilty of drug trafficking. A previous attempt to deport him had failed.
The names of the defendants have not been made public.
