Swiss human rights activist Anni Lanz has lost an appeal against a decision to fine her for having helped a rejected Afghan asylum seeker return from Italy to Switzerland. The 73-year-old former head of the Solidarité sans frontiers group was first condemned in December 2018 by a local court in Brig, canton Valais, and given a fine of CHF800 ($815). On Wednesday, she lost her appeal before the cantonal court, who refused her lawyer’s plea that Lanz had acted “purely from humanitarian motivations” in helping an Afghan asylum seeker reenter the country from Italy after an initial rejection by Swiss authorities. “All violations of the law must be punished,” the judge said. For the prosecutor, Lanz could have helped the man where he was in Italy, rather than try to bring him back to Switzerland – an argument rejected by the defendant, who said she had tried and failed to find institutions in Milan that would help the Afghan, who suffered from severe post-traumatic stress and who ...
