The controversial statements of National Councilor Andreas Glarner (UDC/AG) about Islam are not protected by his parliamentary immunity from the courts. This is what the National Council’s immunity committee decided on Monday evening, by 5 votes to 4.
The Aargauian had posted a message on social networks in 2024 accompanied by the hashtag “#stoppislam” in which he asked whether we should not start putting the brakes on a religion whose members seek to impose their veil requirements , special rights, caliphates, minarets, calls to prayer, sharia courts, etc., through bombings and attacks on innocent citizens.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the canton of Bern then requested the lifting of his immunity and authorization to conduct criminal proceedings on suspicion of discrimination and incitement to hatred. However, the commission refused.
For the committee, these remarks “are formulated in too general and global a manner for it to be possible to establish a link with certain parliamentary objects or to deduce concrete legislative measures”. For her, “it is not justified to grant him preferential treatment compared to private people who express themselves in a similar way on social networks,” she said. The Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of States will still have to make a decision.
The commission also refused to lift the immunity of two other UDC elected officials, namely State Councilor Marco Chiesa and former national councilor Peter Keller, also suspected of discrimination and incitement to hatred. This on the occasion of controversial declarations made in 2023 as part of two SVP campaigns, one entitled “New normal?”, the other “No to a Switzerland with 10 million inhabitants!”.
The commission considers that “statements made during campaigns fall within the freedom of expression and formation of opinion which prevails in the context of a democratic campaign and that they must therefore be tolerated”.
Scuffle at the Federal Palace: the commission procrastinates
The committee also suspended by 6 votes to 2 its decision concerning the request for lifting the immunity of two other UDC national councilors, namely group leader Thomas Aeschi (ZG) and Michael Graber (VS). The two parliamentarians were energetically repulsed by the federal police during the summer session, during the visit of the speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament. The two elected officials did not want to respect the security cordon on the stairs of the Federal Palace. The committee prefers to wait for an opinion from the Administrative Delegation of Parliament on the matter.
