Appeals chamber must step aside in intrigue affair
Published: Wednesday, Dec 20th 2023, 12:11
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In the affair surrounding intrigues at the Federal Criminal Court, all 14 judges of the appeals chamber must step down. This was decided by an extraordinary appeals chamber consisting of three cantonal high court presidents on Wednesday.
The affair concerns a criminal complaint filed in 2020 by Judge Andrea Blum, Vice President of the Appeals Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court, against the then members of the Administrative Commission of the Federal Supreme Court, Federal Supreme Court President Ulrich Meyer, Vice President Martha Niquille and Federal Judge Yves Donzallaz.
Blum accuses them of slander, defamation, false accusation, coercion and abuse of office. In an investigation report, they allegedly indicated that she had violated official secrecy.
Comprehension of the average reader
The Administrative Commission published the supervisory report in April 2020. It was drawn up in response to allegations concerning suspected misconduct at the Federal Criminal Court. There was talk of sexism, bullying, expenses, love affairs and more.
The report mentions Blum - along with other people - by name. It states that Blum, as Vice President of the Appeals Chamber, brought unresolved problems within the court, "in particular concerning the relationship of trust with National Councillor Pirmin Schwander, into Parliament".
"The direct targeting of Council or committee members by individual judges through the transmission of information and documents from the court also violates official secrecy." The President alone represents the Federal Criminal Court vis-à-vis Parliament, "which was made unmistakably clear to Federal Criminal Court Judge Blum (...) by the then President Ponti."
For Blum, the average reader understands these passages to mean that she is accused of breaching official secrecy. Various media representatives immediately read the lines in question and reported on them accordingly. And the two councils' audit committees also understood them in the same way.
For this reason, Blum filed a criminal complaint against the three federal judges in July 2020. She subsequently failed several times with her complaint. However, the request to recuse herself has now been partially approved.
Doubts about independence
The three Presidents of the High Courts of St. Gallen, Zurich and Aargau came to the conclusion that the collegiality between the judges and the appellant judge was not sufficient to justify the appearance of bias. However, in this case, Blum was not only a member of the Board of Appeal but also its Vice-President.
In this function, she chairs the panel in many proceedings. It is therefore obvious that "from the outside and objectively, the impression arises" that the other judges may not be able to decide on the applications of their own vice president with sufficient independence and impartiality.
Doubts could arise in the eyes of outsiders if "the same judge sits on the panel of judges with her female colleagues in one case and faces the same colleagues as a party in the next case". Therefore, the recusal request for the judges of the appeal chamber should be approved.
Blum had also demanded that several judges of the Appeals Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court take a leave of absence. However, as there is no relationship of dependency between these two instances, this request was rejected, as was the request for the court clerks to stand down. The decision is not legally binding and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
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