A man in Switzerland has been sentenced to 10 days in prison after refusing to pay a fine for a social media post in which he claimed there are only two genders.
Emanuel Brünisholz, a 57-year-old wind instrument repairman from Burgdorf in the canton of Bern, was convicted under the country’s anti-discrimination laws for a Facebook comment made in December 2022.
The case began when Brünisholz responded to a post by Swiss National Council member Andreas Glarner, a parliamentarian for the right-leaning Swiss People’s Party. In his comment, Brünisholz wrote: “If you dig up LGBTQI people after 200 years, you’ll only find men and women based on their skeletons. Everything else is a mental illness promoted through the curriculum.”
The remark was quickly reported to the authorities by activists as discrimination and inciting hatred. Local police then launched an investigation into whether or not the post violated Article 261bis of the Swiss Criminal Code, a provision originally introduced in 1995 to outlaw racist incitement and broadened in 2020 to include sexual orientation and sexual identity.
Brünisholz was summoned for questioning by the Bern Cantonal Police in August 2023, where he openly admitted writing the post. “Yes, that is so. That’s what I wrote,” he told officers, insisting it was neither sexist nor racist and laughing off the accusation. He argued that he had simply pointed out a fact about human biology, saying later in court that he believed most of the public would agree with him.
The authorities, however, took a different view, and he was charged, prosecuted, and ultimately convicted.
As reported by Czech outlet Inside Paradeplatz, prosecutors argued that the comment “publicly denigrated the group of LGBT(Q)I people on the basis of their sexual orientation in a manner that violates human dignity” and that Brünisholz had acted with “at least eventual intent.”
Brünisholz was ultimately handed 50 daily fines of 50 Swiss francs each, suspended for two years, plus an additional fine of 500 francs.
He appealed the ruling, but the Emmental-Oberaargau Regional Court upheld the conviction in December 2023, adding several hundred francs in additional court fees. At that point, his lawyer advised him that a further appeal would have no realistic chance of success in Switzerland’s legal system.
Refusing to pay the 500-franc fine, Brünisholz instead received a summons order to serve 10 days in Burgdorf regional prison starting Dec. 2, 2025. The notice makes clear that the substitute custodial sentence is being enforced in place of the unpaid fine.
For Brünisholz, the issue has become a matter of principle. He continues to insist that he is being criminalized for expressing an opinion about biology, not for inciting hatred. “I stand by what I wrote,” he told police during his interrogation.
