(Swiss Info) Switzerland’s Supreme Court has overturned the acquittal of two Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) leaders accused of terrorist propaganda.
Islamic council president Nicolas Blancho and its spokesman [Qaasim] Illi were accused of broadcasting propaganda videos in support of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. But they were acquitted in 2018 by the Federal Criminal Court on a technicality. The author of the films, Naïm Cherni, was given a 20-month suspended prison sentence.
In its decision released on Friday the Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s verdict on Cherni, but overturned the acquittals of Blancho and Illi, saying the lower court had erred through “excessive formalism.” It referred them back to the Federal Criminal Court which will now have to reopen the case.
