Swiss newspaper says canton condemning it without justice taking its course

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Canton Geneva late Wednesday at a press conference confirmed through its lawyer that it is ready to pay a fair sum to Hannibal Qadaffi, compensating him for moral damage because a state employee appears to have been involved in leaking a police mug shot of him to the Tribune de Genève. The state noted that the action was “deplorable” and completely unacceptable, and that it will also sanction the employee, if the investigation into the leak makes it possible to determine who supplied the photo.

The state, in filing its “Memorandum” with the court hearing Qadaffi’s civil suit, filed against the canton and the newspaper in December 2009, asks the court to determine how much of the sum should be borne by Geneva and how much by the newspaper. But Tribune editor-in-chief Pierre Ruetschi Wednesday noon wrote a scathing comment on the papers the canton filed with the court.

He says that the Tribune is “shocked” that the canton has insinuated, before the court hearing, that it behaved illegally. The Tribune’s stance is that in publishing an unflattering police photo of the Libyan leader’s son it did nothing illegal.

Ruetschi’ comment contains a reminder of the circumstances under which the photo was published 4 September 2009: Hannibal Qadaffi’s photo appeared alongside a photo showing the injuries to the back of the domestic servant Qadaffi was accused of abusing, the incident that provoked his arrest, as well as a photo showing then Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz apologizing to Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi.

Pierre Ruetschi’s comment in the Tribune de Genève

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