He had requested the detention of a man because of his Jewishness, invoking Israel’s law of return as constituting a risk of flight. According to the Federal Court, Frédéric Scheidegger gives the appearance of treating the defendant differently because of his Jewish faith. Here he is challenged.
The case is embarrassing for the Geneva prosecutor. The latter wrongly considered that the sole Jewish religion of a defendant, regardless of his links with the State of Israel, constituted a risk of flight due to Israel’s “Law of Return”. A ruling from the Federal Court, dated November 8, revealed today by Le Temps, sweeps aside a first decision of the Cantonal Court which supported this argument and ruled in favor of the public prosecutor.
Read also: Risk of flight: Geneva justice can take into account the religion of a defendant
The defendant in question, a Swiss national with no links to the Jewish State, attacked this motivation, pointing out its discriminatory nature. At the time, prosecutor Frédéric Scheidegger refuted and indicated: “That a State has decided, for its own reasons, to welcome people on the basis of a criterion of religion does not make people in question of “fleeing” people but simply and objectively people who can, if necessary, settle in the State in question as in their homeland.”
Appearance of bias
The TF judgment that Léman Bleu was also able to consult is harsh towards the Public Prosecutor’s Office: “the prosecutor gives the appearance that he treats the appellant differently because he is of Jewish faith, respectively considers that the latter presents a risk to flee to Israel only because he is of this faith.” The judges also note the appearance of bias on the part of the prosecutor. Consequently, his recusal is ordered.
Me Nicola Meier, lawyer for this defendant accused of professional usury and tax evasion, welcomes this decision with satisfaction: “I am happy that the Federal Court recalls the main principles of what Justice should be.”
The case is referred to the Geneva courts, responsible for appointing a new prosecutor and determining which investigative acts must be canceled.
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