The parents and brother of Joao, stabbed to death by a Turkish-Swiss in September 2020 in a kebab in Morges, are demanding 200,000 francs in damages from Switzerland, reveals RTS.
Could Joao’s death have been avoided? For the parents, but also for the brother of this 29-year-old Portuguese man murdered on September 12, 2020, there is no doubt on the question.
In their eyes, if former federal prosecutor Juliette Noto, who now works for the Federal Intelligence Service, had done her job well, Joao would still be alive.
On November 4, 2024, in a letter addressed to the Federal Department of Finance, and of which the RTS Investigation Department took note, they formulated civil claims against the Swiss Confederation.
Reincarceration “at the slightest deviation”
To understand this approach, we must look back at the three months which preceded the homicide of Morges, the first of a jihadist nature in Switzerland.
Omer, the future assassin, is then under surveillance by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. He has just been released from prison and he must respect around fifteen rules under penalty of returning there. In a hearing, prosecutor Juliette Noto even told him that with “the slightest deviation”, he would be reincarcerated.
Omer knows what to expect, but he doesn’t follow the rules. For example, he must report once a week to the Morges police station, but he does not do so. The prosecutor is aware of these failings, but she takes no action against him.
The aftermath is tragic and well-known. On September 12, 2020, Omer went to the kebab shop in the early evening and stabbed Joao to death while shouting “Allah is the greatest”.
>> Review the topic from 7:30 p.m. on September 16, 2020:
An “incomprehensible inaction”
“Through her totally incomprehensible inaction, it is clear that Federal Prosecutor Juliette Noto committed a serious error in the exercise of her duties,” wrote lawyer Dario Barbosa in his letter to the Department on behalf of the family. federal finance.
“Joao’s death would obviously not have occurred if the appropriate measures, which could only be necessary given the situation, had been taken,” continues the lawyer.
The family is therefore turning against the Confederation which, according to the Federal Liability Act, “is responsible for damage caused without right to a third party by a civil servant in the exercise of his duties, without regard to the fault of the civil servant”. To put it more simply, the Confederation must answer for any failings of the former federal prosecutor.
In their letter, the family requests compensation of 80,000 francs for the mother, the same for the father, and 40,000 francs for the brother, or 200,000 francs in total.
In the required investigative measures, she requests the hearing of the former prosecutor in question, but also the production of her HR file, in order to better “understand the reasons for her change of job which took place in May 2021”, eight months after the Morges tragedy.
No comment from the prosecutor
Contacted by email by RTS, Juliette Noto said that she had “no comments” to make on questions which, in her eyes, fall “within the competence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Confederation”.
Also contacted, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Confederation does not respond to the precise and detailed questions of the RTS, but provides general answers. It indicates for example that “the fight against jihadist terrorism and the management of the corresponding procedures, such as the jihadist attack in Morges, each time involve a large number of actors and authorities. Each authority acts within the framework of its mission defined by law and takes the necessary decisions for this purpose.”
The file is now in the hands of the Federal Department of Finance which will make a decision in the coming months after hearing from everyone.
Fabiano Citroni, RTS Investigation Department
