Court OKs naked hiking fines
On Thursday a court rejected the appeal of a man slapped with a 100 Swiss franc (69 pound) fine. The man had walked naked past a family with small children at a picnic area and a Christian rehabilitation centre for drug addicts one Sunday afternoon in the eastern canton (state) of Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
"The fundamental right to personal freedom is only marginally, if at all, infringed upon by a ban on hiking naked in a public area," the court said in a statement.
The mountainous cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, which only gave women the right to vote two decades ago, are popular among nude hiking enthusiasts.
Naked hiking is not illegal in Switzerland but it is possible for individual Swiss cantons to apply indecency laws.
