Spiess-Hegglin takes Switzerland to the European Court of Justice
Published: Monday, Nov 27th 2023, 17:10
Back to Live Feed
Former Zug politician Jolanda Spiess-Hegglin has brought an action against Switzerland before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the dispute over a controversial book on the 2014 Zug Landammann celebration. The Federal Supreme Court had previously not accepted her complaint.
According to a statement from the court, the 43-year-old from Zug accuses Switzerland of violating the right to a fair trial and the right to respect for private life under the European Convention on Human Rights. The "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" reported on this online on Monday.
The Federal Council now has twelve weeks to issue a statement. Spiess-Hegglin did not wish to comment on the matter when asked by the newspaper.
Spiess-Hegglin's appeal relates to a decision by the Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne in January 2022, when she applied for a ban on the publication of a book by Tamedia journalist Michèle Binswanger.
Binswanger's controversial book dealt with the Zug Landammann celebration in 2014, at which a sexual encounter is said to have taken place between the then Green cantonal councillor Spiess-Hegglin and an SVP cantonal councillor. What exactly happened remains unclear. The events led to extensive media coverage as well as civil and criminal proceedings.
Spiess-Hegglin argued to the Federal Supreme Court that the publication of the book would cause irreparable harm to her person. The Swiss Supreme Court, however, justified its decision not to intervene by stating that the disadvantage in question had not been demonstrated. The book was finally published in January 2023.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic