BERLIN: Switzerland’s highest court has thrown out a man’s claim to an insurance payout for post-traumatic stress suffered after he was kidnapped by the Taliban while driving through Pakistan.

The police officer and his partner were on their way home from a trip to India when they decided to drive through northern Pakistan without an armed escort in 2011. They were kidnapped and held for eight months.

The man had accident insurance but his insurer refused a payout because he had ignored longstanding Swiss Foreign Ministry advice against travel to Pakistan.

A lower court had backed the insurer.

The Federal Tribunal rejected the man’s appeal on Thursday, ruling that he “knowingly accepted the dangers” of his trip and “took an absolute gamble” that justifies the insurer’s stance.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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