Hemp Grower In Switzerland Threatened With Finger Mutilation In Business Dispute, Ex-Union Official Convicted

A former union official in Switzerland was found guilty after detaining a farmer in a CBD hemp facility due to a dispute over the sale price of the company. Not only was the gardener held captive, but he was also threatened with having his fingers cut with gardening shears, reported Bern Zeitung.

The official founded the CBD company near Bern at the time of the Covid pandemic. Since the facility was large, the defendant was assisted by a gardener but the business didn't go as planned. Not being able to sell even a gram of CBD hemp, the official decided to sell the company.

The gardener, who was passionate about the plant, decided to buy it. However, they could not agree on the purchase price and there was no written contract.

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That's when the defendant took things to the extreme and locked the gardener in the facility. There were up to five other men at the facility acting as guards. At one point the gardener was threatened with garden shears to force payment. The defendant demanded an additional 85,000 Swiss francs ($100,793) on top of the 65,000 francs already paid.

In the evening, the gardener was finally released, but he was afraid to go straight to the police. After getting another call from the former union official, the gardener transferred the demanded amount.

When the judge asked him why he didn't go to the police right away, the gardener responded that he was afraid. “If I report the wrong people, and they are organized—then good night.”

The defendant was found guilty of deprivation of liberty and coercion, and the court sentenced him to a 13-month suspended prison sentence with a four-year probation period.

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