“Shadows of Pöschwies: A Refugee’s Nine-Year Nightmare Behind Swiss Bars”
Heartwrenching True Story of Stefanos Koprum, 41 yrs old, (An Eritrean Refugee) who spent time in Pöschwies, Pavilion 8.
Narrated by Stefanos Koprum to the African Academy of Diplomacy (AAD)
Stefanos Koprum, an Eritrean refugee, tells a story that captures the darkest shadows of human suffering within Switzerland’s most notorious prison, Pöschwies, in Zurich. His journey began as a desperate escape from the oppressive regime in Eritrea, but instead of finding safety, he was caught in a nightmare that would last nearly a decade.
In 2007, Stefanos was accused of multiple murder attempts and found himself behind the cold, merciless walls of Pöschwies. Sentenced to nine years in the harshest conditions imaginable, Stefanos recounts the horrors that unfolded during his imprisonment. But it wasn’t the confinement that broke his spirit; it was the inhumane treatment and the daily abuse that prisoners, especially African inmates, were subjected to.
Switzerland, a country known for its neutrality and human rights advocacy, harbored within its prison walls a system that turned a blind eye to unimaginable atrocities. Stefanos remembers the cruel psycho-medical experiments conducted on prisoners under a program known as Model Versuch. These experiments, designed to test new medications, used prisoners as human guinea pigs. The physical pain and psychological trauma inflicted were unbearable, and many inmates were left scarred for life.
“The experiments were beyond brutal,” Stefanos recalls with a trembling voice. “We were injected with drugs we didn’t understand, told it was for ‘medical progress.’ But all we felt was pain. We were treated as if we were animals, less than human.”
In the shadows of these experiments, other horrors thrived. Stefanos witnessed violence daily, from brutal rapes to murders that were swept under the rug by prison authorities. Drugs and smartphones were smuggled into the prison by the very people entrusted to maintain order—the prison administrators themselves. These items were sold to prisoners at extortionate prices, i was one of those using smart phones in Pöschwies, and smuggling of illegal stuff to the prison fueled crime within the prison walls.
“The drugs, the violence, the corruption—it was all orchestrated by those in power,” Stefanos reveals. “It was a criminal enterprise disguised as a prison. We had no protection, no rights. Africans like me were treated the worst—beaten, tortured both physically and mentally. It was a nightmare that never ended.”
The local media reports confirm allegations made by Stefanos, refer to the links below:
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/drogenschmuggel-im-gefaengnis-polizei-verhaftet-mehrere-personen-210610406834
https://www.20min.ch/story/aufseher-wegen-drogenschmuggel-in-zuercher-gefaengnis-verhaftet-777449814276
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/kampf-gegen-krumme-deals-in-zuercher-gefaengnissen-953555673310
https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/was-der-gefaengnisdirektor-gegen-drogenschmuggel-unternimmt-645649403546
https://www.blick.ch/schweiz/zuerich/wegen-krummen-geschaeften-im-knast-poeschwies-schafft-das-bargeld-ab-id15931134.html
https://www.grenchnertagblatt.ch/blaulicht/uberdosis-haftling-in-der-zelle-tot-aufgefunden-ld.2007455
https://www.20min.ch/story/ex-insasse-packt-aus-konnten-beim-waerter-drogen-und-handys-bestellen-829713663907
https://www.watson.ch/schweiz/verbrechen/207395133-angestellter-der-strafanstalt-poeschwies-verhaftet-schmuggelvorwuerfe
In 2016, Stefanos was transferred to an open prison, but by then, the damage was done. The years of abuse, exploitation, and dehumanization left him a shadow of the man he once was.
“Even when I was finally released, I wasn’t free,” Stefanos says. “The memories of Pöschwies haunt me every day. But I share my story because the world needs to know what is happening in places like this, even in countries where you would never expect such cruelty.”
Stefanos’s story is a chilling reminder that even in the most developed nations, human rights violations can occur in the dark, away from the public eye. His testimony is a call for justice, not just for himself but for all the prisoners who continue to suffer in silence.
AAD Research Team
