ZURICH: Two executives of Switzerland’s biggest political party violated laws against racism with a campaign advertisement suggesting people from Kosovo are violent criminals, the highest Swiss court ruled on Thursday.

The case revolved around a poster headlined “Kosovars slice up Swiss” that was part of a far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) campaign to limit immigration.

The SVP, with nearly a third of seats in Parliament, created the poster after a 2011 knife attack involving an aggressor of Kosovar heritage and a Swiss victim.

The Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne upheld the convictions of former SVP Secretary-General Martin Baltisser and his deputy, Silvia Baer, on charges of racial discrimination.

The pair had appealed against their initial conviction, contending Kosovars did not qualify as a race or ethnicity. The court rejected their argument, saying ethnic Albanians in Kosovo constituted a distinct ethnicity.