ZURICH (Reuters) -A top Swiss court has ruled that the Swiss government's reductions and cancellations of bonus payments to former executives of Credit Suisse after the bank failed in 2023 were unlawful, according to the ruling published late on Tuesday.

The bonus measures affected around 1,000 people, some of whom challenged the decision with Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court, which upheld their appeal.

"The variable remunerations reduced by the (Swiss finance ministry) were binding, employer-guaranteed claims deriving from a contractual employment relationship," the court said. "Such contractual claims are protected by the guarantee of ownership."

The ruling may be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, the court said in a statement.

The court's decision is likely to be closely watched by other parties affected by the demise of Credit Suisse, which collapsed in March 2023 and was taken over by rival UBS in an operation orchestrated by Swiss authorities.

As part of that process, Swiss financial market regulator FINMA wrote down about $17 billion of Credit Suisse's Additional Tier 1 (AT1) debt, angering bondholders.

A number of bondholders have since filed lawsuits against Switzerland seeking compensation for their losses.