Swiss politician who backed anti-pedophile bills faces life sentence for allegedly raping minor

Prosecutors allege that Patrick Frei systematically drugged and abused his partner and her underage daughter

Swiss prosecutors have requested a life sentence for a right-wing politician who backed multiple child-protection bills and now faces charges including drugging and raping a minor.

Patrick Frei, formerly of the Swiss People’s Party, allegedly sedated a woman and her daughter, who was underage at the time, and systematically sexually abused them, according to a press release issued on Monday by the Aargau Public Prosecutor’s Office. The 57-year-old is also accused of drugging and raping another adult woman.

“The victims were repeatedly placed in an acutely life-threatening condition by the administration of the substances, which could have caused them to suffocate at any time,” the press release said.

Because Frei allegedly “accepted the possible death of the victims,” he has also been charged with multiple counts of attempted murder, prosecutors said.

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The investigation was launched in 2023 after the girl’s mother reportedly caught the politician in the act and called the police. He was arrested shortly afterward and has remained in custody ever since. According to prosecutors, Frei left behind a trove of evidence, including pornographic videos and photographs documenting his alleged crimes.

The victims, a Polish mother and daughter, had moved to Switzerland after previously living in Ireland, according to the Swiss news outlet Watson. The mother was Frei’s partner and worked for him under an employment contract that supported her residence permit. After his arrest, she lost her job and later applied for welfare.

Migration authorities questioned whether the employment arrangement was genuine and opened proceedings that could result in both victims being deported, Watson reported.

The daughter, now 18, “has lost faith in the authorities” because of the abuse she suffered and the lack of support she received from Swiss institutions afterward, her lawyer told Swiss public broadcaster SRF on Wednesday.

The local migration office is continuing to review the case, Aargau State Councillor Dieter Egli told SRF.