A man who refused to pay a sex worker in Switzerland - where sex work has been legal since 1942 - arguing the contract is "immoral" was convicted of fraud
ZURICH, Feb 4 (Reuters) - A man who refused to pay a sex worker is guilty of fraud, a top Swiss court ruled, rejecting his argument that the immoral nature of prostitution absolved him of criminal wrongdoing.
The man had promised on internet ads to pay "young" women 2,000 Swiss francs ($2,219) for sex and arranged a hotel room tryst in 2016 with one respondent, the ruling from the Federal Court released on Thursday found.
The woman asked to be paid in advance, but then accepted the man's assurances he would pay later, only to see him leave without handing over the money.
The man was convicted of fraud but took his case to the Federal Court after a lower court rejected his appeal. The federal ruling said he "argued, among other things, that the prostitution contract was immoral" under federal law.
Sex work has been legal in Switzerland since 1942 and the court noted that sex workers' payments were protected by law and that they had to pay income tax and pension contributions.
"In view of this, it is no longer possible to consider the contract between the prostitute and her client as immoral without any restrictions," the summary said.
It also dismissed suggestions the woman had acted recklessly.
"It may be true that she was gullible to a certain extent by not insisting on payment in advance. However, even a considerable degree of naivety or recklessness on the part of the victim does not necessarily lead to impunity of the perpetrator," it said.
($1 = 0.9012 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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