A Swiss wind instrument repairman is serving a ten-day jail sentence after refusing to pay a fine imposed for a comment he made on Facebook about biological sex. Emanuel Brünisholz, from Burgdorf in the canton of Bern, responded to a December 2022 post by Swiss National Councillor Andreas Glarner, writing: “If you excavate LGBTQI people after 200 years, you will only find men and women among the skeletons; everything else is a mental illness that was fostered by the curriculum!”
As we reported, the comment, which stressed the immutability of biological sex, triggered complaints from activists who accused him of incitement to hatred under Article 261bis of the Swiss Criminal Code. Brünisholz was questioned by police in August 2023, and later found guilty of “publicly belittling” LGBT(QI) people.
He received a suspended sentence of 2,500 Swiss francs and was additionally ordered to pay a 500-franc fine along with 800 francs in court fees. Declaring that he would not pay for expressing a scientific fact, Brünisholz announced: “It’s happening. On 2 December I’m going to prison for 10 days!” The Alliance for Freedom of Expression stated that the law, which is supposed to protect freedom, was instead used in this case to undermine it.
Critics argue the conviction shows how Article 261bis is being weaponised to silence dissent on gender ideology, while ignoring biological evidence.
The controversy reflects similar events in other European countries. In Britain, comedy writer Graham Linehan faced legal action over gender-critical social media posts. Linehan was arrested at Heathrow Airport in September, 2025 for allegedly harassing a transgender activist. Although acquitted of harassment, he was found guilty of criminal damage for seizing the activist’s mobile phone–when it was pushed in his face–resulting in a £500 (€569) fine, £650 (€740) court costs, and a statutory surcharge of £200 (€227). Commenting on Brünisholz’s imprisonment, Linehan said on X on December 1st: “I’ve received a statement from Emanuel Brünisholz, who starts a ten-day prison sentence in Switzerland tomorrow for saying that men and women have different skeletons. You can write to the Swiss Federal Dept of Justice and police at info@gs-ejpd.admin.ch to protest this disgraceful situation.”
I've received a statement from Emanuel Brünisholz, who starts a ten-day prison sentence in Switzerland tomorrow for saying that men and women have different skeletons. You can write to the Swiss Federal Dept of Justice and police at info@gs-ejpd.admin.ch to protest this…
In the statement he provided, Brünisholz elaborated on his position:
“The LGBTQ+ movement behaves like a zealous sect. They try to brand me a homophobe to shut me up. I am nothing of the sort. I repair wind instruments for a living, and I come from a left-wing, tolerant household. What troubles me is watching the activists in that movement exploit ordinary LGB people for political ends that strike me as dangerous nonsense. These tactics have begun to cast a long shadow over Switzerland and Europe alike, as a kind of woke dictatorship.”
Rebeka Kis is a fifth-year law student at the University of Pécs. Her main interests are politics and history, with experience in the EU’s day-to-day activities gained as an intern with the Foundation for a Civic Hungary at the European Parliament.
