Lausanne/Bex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 20-year-old who was knifed in the heart Tuesday 1 September by two youths he didn’t know as he walked through Parc Montbenon in Lausanne, died Saturday of his injuries, Vaud police say. The 15- and 17-year-olds who killed him were caught near the train station shortly after the crime and told a judge they pulled a knife on him because they didn’t like the way he looked at them.

One of them had been charged in the past with attempted murder and spent time in a juvenile detention centre in the Jura, but he escaped in January 2009.

A second violent crime was committed by juveniles in Bex Sunday night, near the Vaud/Valais cantonal line, that sent a police officer to hospital with head, throat and knee injuries.

All four youths are of foreign nationality, from three countries, and none of them have permanent residence status. The crimes come at a time when Switzerland has been debating what to do with foreigners who have not become well integrated into Swiss society and who commit serious crimes.

In the Bex incident, a first youth, age 15, was stopped on the train from Aigle in Vaud to Martigny, Valais, for not having a train ticket or identity card. He was taken off the train at Bex, where his friend was on the quay, and the older youth stepped onto the train steps, refusing to let CFF rail personnel pass. The train was unable to leave, so the police were called. When a police officer tried to check the ID of the older youth he suddenly attacked the officer, who was treated for multiple injuries but released later Sunday night.

All four youths, three have B permits and one has political asylum status. The right-wing UDC (People’s Party) 25 August published a position paper that uses a University of Zurich study to say juvenile crime is a problem linked to immigration.

The Swiss government in June completed the public consultation process for a change to the law on foreigners that will allow authorities to lift the residence permit of foreigners who commit grave crimes. The government’s proposal was in response to a more stringent law proposed for a popular referendum by the UDC, which Bern has said would countravene both Swiss constitutional law and European human rights laws. The UDC proposal called for a list to be established of crimes that would result in automatic expulsion from the country.

The government’s proposal does not specifically deal with the issue of foreign juveniles who commit serious crimes.

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