Appeals trial closes in Swiss 'George Floyd' case

Lawyers for the family of a Nigerian man who died following a violent arrest in 2018 demanded six police officers be convicted of homicide, at a Swiss appeals trial Wednesday.

The case of Mike Ben Peter, 39, has drawn comparisons to the killing of George Floyd in the United States.

During the initial trial in June last year, a court in Lausanne ruled that the six officers involved in the incident could not be found guilty of negligent homicide.

At the end of a three-day appeals trial in Renens outside Lausanne, public prosecutors and the defence again pleaded for the officers' acquittal, Switzerland's Keystone-ATS news agency reported.

But the family's lawyer Simon Ntah asked the court to convict them of homicide by negligence and abuse of authority -- which would bring maximum sentences of three years and five years in prison respectively, said ATS.

Ben Peter died following a violent arrest after he refused a police drug search near Lausanne railway station in early 2018.

In the encounter, he was pinned to the ground on his stomach, according to Ntah.

Ben Peter died in hospital a few hours later after suffering a heart attack.

His death initially received little attention, but the global outcry over Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020 placed a bigger spotlight on the Swiss case.

There must be a guilty verdict in order to "do justice for Mike Ben Peter", Ntah told the court on Wednesday, according to ATS.

"If the police had done their job well, he would not have died," he said.

"It was the abuse of authority that killed Mike."

The police officers' lawyers said they were convinced that their clients were innocent and that the police intervention was proportionate in the face of "totally unreasonable resistance".

Following this week's hearings, the verdict in the case is due on Monday.