Marco Camenisch
Marco Camenisch (born 21 January 1952) is a Swiss anarchist and environmental activist. He grew up in Campocologno in the canton of Graubünden.
In the late 1970s he joined local opposition to nuclear power. Activists used direct actions like cutting power lines and sabotaging plants or leaders of the industry.
On Christmas Eve 1979, with René Moser, he sabotaged a NOK power station in Bad Ragaz, destroying two transformers and a power pole. They were arrested in January 1980. After a year on bail, a court in Chur and Graubünden sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
In December 1981 he escaped from Regensdorf prison with five other inmates. A prison guard was killed and another injured during the escape. Camenisch said he did not participate in the shootings and spent about ten years in hiding.
In 1989 Swiss police and media claimed he was responsible for the killing of border police officer Kurt Moser at Brusio.
On 5 November 1991, he was stopped by Italian Carabinieri on a road near Cinquale di Montignoso with fellow anarchist Giancarlo Sergianpietri. He drew a handgun and opened fire, wounding a soldier. In the ensuing shootout he was wounded in the leg and arrested. Two guns and six homemade bombs were found at his home. He was taken to a hospital in Pisa for six months and later to the San Vittore prison infirmary in Milan.
An Italian court in Massa Carrara sentenced him to 12 years for assault and sabotage of electrical pylons. He served nine years in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.
In April 2002, Camenisch was extradited to Switzerland and sent to a prison in Pfäffikon near Zürich. In January 2003, after a hunger strike over prison conditions, he was moved to a prison in Chur with better conditions. In 2002 the Swiss government transferred him back to Pfäffikon.
In July 2004 he was sentenced in Switzerland to 17 years for the murder of Kurt Moser. In November 2006 the Federal Supreme Court canceled this sentence because the total prison time would exceed the 20-year maximum allowed by Swiss law. On 13 March the sentence was reduced to eight years.
Camenisch has kept his political beliefs and remained active while in prison. He was released on 10 March 2017 after about 26 years behind bars.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:51 (CET).