Handling fantasy IDs, refusing taxes, and inundating offices with pseudo-legal letters. A man in the canton of Zurich, known as a state refuser, has now had an arsenal of weapons confiscated from him.
When police officers knocked on a door in the Zurich district of Horgen in October 2023, they likely knew that this visit would not be easy.
Their task was to serve a man with an arrest warrant for an unpaid fine. However, the person residing at that address has no regard for authority. He is already known to them as a state refuser.
For years, annoying to aggressive troublemakers have been causing problems for Swiss authorities and courts. They do not recognize the judiciary and obstruct offices. They do not pay taxes, create fantasy IDs, and inundate authorities with pseudo-legal letters.
One such representative is the man from Horgen. He is not very cooperative, as a ruling from the Zurich Administrative Court shows. He does not respond to repeated doorbell rings and refuses to open the window or speak to the police. He insists that they should come back at a time convenient to him and must accept his terms and conditions.
In February, the police were there to enforce an eviction, and the state refuser tried to disrupt the operation. According to the Administrative Court, he presented himself as a “supervisor for human rights.”
In March 2023, he wrote to the relevant office stating that a fine was not issued according to commercial rules. He claimed to have no contracts with the issuing authority and therefore could not accept the offer. He returned the fine.
In April 2023, he contested a payment order at the municipal police station. He refused to accept it because his name was misspelled: it should be “First Name Last Name” instead of “Last Name, First Name.”
On another occasion, he stated that he would not pay a fine until his address was correctly listed as “Human” because his “Person” no longer existed.
In summary, the interaction between the citizen and the authorities was not very constructive. He expressed a “clearly radical attitude,” as described by the Administrative Court. He believed that the actions of the police were not lawful.
State Refusers on the Intelligence Service’s Radar
The pandemic gave a significant boost to the state refuser scene from 2020 onwards, and the phenomenon has since not disappeared. Some municipalities already have guidelines for dealing with eccentrically resistant citizens. The eccentricity becomes a danger when troublemakers threaten enforcement officers or police with physical violence.
Some authorities seem to perceive state refusers as a threat to democracy and internal security. Last year, the Zurich Cantonal Police reportedly requested the Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) to initiate an examination of state refusers, as reported by the “NZZ am Sonntag.”
This process determines whether a group should be added to the classified observation list of the intelligence service. This would entail intelligence surveillance of the concerned state refusers. The intelligence service has various means at its disposal, from observations to human sources, that could be deployed.
The Zurich Cantonal Police has not disclosed “specific threats” that would justify such a request. According to the Intelligence Service Ordinance, the cantons can request the NDB’s intervention “to protect important national interests.”
Dirk Baier from the Institute of Delinquency and Crime Prevention at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences stated last year to NZZ that he deems surveillance of the state refuser scene necessary: “Because the scene has existed for years and is also dangerous.”
Baier mentioned that when the state wants to enforce the law, it may resort to violence. The danger within the state-critical milieu comes from individuals who radicalize within these networks.
The Man Does Not Get His Weapons Back
In the case in Horgen, authorities saw an increasing potential for violence in the man. The state refuser was armed. According to the ruling of the Administrative Court, the man owned several pistols and a shotgun.
In November 2023, the Horgen Magistrate’s Office ordered a house search to seize and confiscate all weapons and ammunition.
During the house search, the man asked the police if they were armed and if he should arm himself as well to be on an equal footing.
It was this blatant threat that raised concerns at the Administrative Court. Shortly after the confiscation, the state refuser wanted his arsenal back. His question to the police about arming himself suggested a danger to others, as stated in the court’s ruling.
The man appealed the confiscation to the Administrative Court. However, the judges rejected it, and he will not get his weapons back. He must pay a court fee of over 2000 Swiss francs. It remains to be seen if he will actually pay the fee.
The Group Has Fled Abroad
The state refusers from Horgen, who had mostly settled in the vicinity of Hirzel, have apparently disappeared. Horgen’s Mayor, Manfred Rhiner, stated that they had significant issues with around half a dozen individuals from that scene. They refused everything related to the state.
By early 2024, these individuals had moved away, according to Rhiner. Some of them had fled abroad.
Whether the house search and the departure are related remains unclear at this point. According to Mayor Rhiner, there was a key figure in the group who took the lead. “When the scene realized they were being watched, they sought refuge in another area,” Rhiner said.