Amelia Tope is an Associate Digital Editor at 

Amelia Tope

Novartis has confirmed that the ashes of CEO Daniel Vasella’s mother have been stolen and his holiday home set fire to. The company believe animal rights militants to be behind the attack.  

The fire, at Vasella’s lodge in Bach, Austria, was started last Monday and has been confirmed as arson. It came a week after his mother’s ashes were stolen and “Drop HLS Now” was spray painted on the grave.

Theses incidents follow a long list of recent attacks against the company. A few weeks ago threatened messages aimed at Vasella and Novartis were written on the church in Vasella’s village of Risch in central Switzerland. According to a report by

, one of the messages read: “Vasella is a killer. We are watching you. Death to Vasella. We’ll be back.”

The Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty group which campaigns against animal testing at the British laboratory, Huntingdon Life Sciences, has denied any involvement in the attacks.

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Novartis has confirmed that the ashes of CEO Daniel Vasella's mother have been stolen and his holiday home set fire to.