Facts
The complainant, a Spanish national, was born in 1964 and grew up in Spain until the age of 9. In 1973, he moved to Switzerland with his family, where he attended school and completed an apprenticeship as a car mechanic. He worked as a disc jockey and radio employee and owned a video rental store. In 1994, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison for drug trafficking. After his conditional release in 1996, he married a Spanish national and was expelled by the aliens' police of the canton of Bern in 1999. The complainant appealed against this decision, which was rejected by the Administrative Court of the canton of Bern.
The complainant applied to the Federal Court to overturn the judgment of the Administrative Court and to refer the matter back to the aliens' police of the canton of Bern for the imposition of expulsion. The Police and Military Directorate and the Administrative Court of the canton of Bern, as well as the Federal Office for Foreigners, applied for the dismissal of the administrative appeal.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the expulsion of the complainant was proportionate. It found that the complainant had been convicted of serious drug offenses and that his guilt was to be considered serious. The court also took into account that the complainant had not committed any further offenses since his conditional release, but that this was not sufficient to dispel concerns about his risk of recidivism.
The court weighed the public interests in expelling the complainant against his private interests in remaining in Switzerland. It found that the…