Vegan sues Switzerland over prison diet

Switzerland has been taken to the European Court of Human Rights for failing to provide an adequate vegan diet to a prisoner and a patient in the psychiatric ward of a hospital.

This case could result in veganism being interpreted across Europe as a protected characteristic under the right to freedom of conscience, as the British newspaper "The Guardian" reports.

The court, which belongs to the Council of Europe and not to the EU, formally called upon its member state Switzerland this week to respond to the two complaints that state institutions in Switzerland had failed to offer two claimants a fully vegan diet while they were in prison or in a psychiatric ward of a hospital.

The case centres on an unnamed Swiss animal rights activist who was arrested in November 2018 in connection with a series of break-ins and acts of vandalism at slaughterhouses, butcher's shops and restaurants in western Switzerland.

The then 28-year-old was held for 11 months in pre-trial detention at Geneva's Champ-Dollon prison, with cantonal judges arguing that there was a risk of reoffending due to the complainant's «lack of awareness and remorse».

Just a few days after his incarceration, the man complained to prison authorities that he was not being fed in accordance with his vegan convictions and was being forced to subsist on side salads, rice or burger buns.

He refused additional treatment with vitamin B12 – the insufficient intake of which can lead to anemia and damage to the nervous system – until the prison provided a version of animal-free origin. Nevertheless, a doctor later diagnosed the prisoner as suffering from constipation, hemorrhoids, and iron deficiency.

A written request to change the diet was rejected by the prison on the grounds that it had already taken measures to enable the prisoner to follow a diet that corresponds to his beliefs as closely as possible.

A complaint was deemed inadmissible by the Swiss Federal Court in June 2020, whereupon the prisoner's lawyer brought the case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, which is composed of 46 judges from all countries that have signed the European Convention on Human Rights, including non-EU states such as the United Kingdom, Turkey, Norway, and Switzerland.

A former patient of a Swiss psychiatric clinic joined the lawsuit, stating that he too had been denied access to a vegan diet.

The Strasbourg court, which rejects approximately 95% of cases brought before it, admitted the appeal.

In its ruling published this week, the court explicitly called on the Swiss state to examine whether the Geneva prison had violated Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that «everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion».

The Swiss state now has three to four months to respond to the ECHR's questions. The European Court will then likely clarify its position on whether the right to a vegan diet in prisons and hospitals is enshrined in the Convention.

The case carries particular significance in French-speaking Switzerland, where «anti-speciesism» is a significant activist movement. However, a ruling by the Strasbourg court would also have far-reaching consequences for catering in prisons and hospitals across the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, representing approximately 700 million people.

While the right to a vegan diet in prisons for religious reasons is already covered by case law in some European countries, the ECtHR ruling could expand this right by defining veganism as an ethical belief system.

In a similar case, a firefighter from Ontario filed a complaint in 2019 with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against his employer, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, because he was not adequately provided with vegan food while fighting a major wildfire in British Columbia.