Cecile Brossard's conviction for the murder of banker Edouard Stern drew packs of journalists in 2008. She has now been sent back to France.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss go to the polls once again Sunday 28 November to vote on two popular initiatives, one to deport foreigners who commit crimes, where voters are given three options.
The second federal item on the ballot proposes to reduce the differences among Swiss cantons in their tax rates on large fortunes by calling for a Swiss-wide minimum tax rate and abolishing “degressive” tax rates. This calls for ending the practice, which some cantons have had in the past, of reducing the tax rate in proportion to the size of the fortune. Bern is opposed to the proposal, noting that in any event degressive tax rates have been outlawed in Switzerland since 2007.
In addition, some Swiss are voting on cantonal and communal issues.
Three choices for expelling foreigners or leaving the law as it stands
The voting item that has received the most attention from outside Switzerland is a proposal to automatically expel foreigners for some crimes. Recent polls, 10 days before the vote, have shown a majority of Swiss favouring the UDC proposal and a majority against the counter-initiative proposed by the government, with little movement in opinions.
The right-wing UDC party initiated the referendum on sending home foreigners who commit crimes by getting the necessary 100,000 signatures on their proposal. Swiss citizens vote three to four times a year on a number of referendums, some of which are proposed by the government while others are known as popular initiatives and are proposed by groups of interested citizens.
The UDC motion has been hotly debated, but not the fact, confirmed by the government, that the proportion of foreigners who commit serious crimes is well above the 21.7 percent of the Swiss population. Switzerland, like many other governments, already expels foreign criminals and charges them not to return for set periods of time, usually within the framework of agreements with other countries.
Cecile Brossard is a case in point: a French woman famously sentenced to prison in Geneva for murdering banking scion Edouard Stern, she was released early in October 2010 on good behaviour after serving part of her sentence. She was sent back to France with an order not to set foot on Swiss soil for 10 years.
The UDC text
Update 18:05 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch, agencies and other media) – Cécile Brossard, the murderer of Edouard Stern, has been found guilty by a jury in Geneva of homicide for killing her lover 28 February 2005. The jury will decide Thursday on her sentence, up to 20 years in prison.
Geneva, Switzerland (romandie/AFP, Fre) – The trial of Cecile Brossard, accused of murdering Edouard Stern, opened in Geneva Wednesday morning with two of the French banker’s children and his ex-wife as witnesses. His wife described him as a man with faults but who was an exceptional person. Brossard asked the court to allow her to explain how the crime occurred, but not to muddy the memory of the man.
Background, 9 June 2009: GenevaLunch/l’Hebdo, part one and part two in English
Swiss news weekly L’Hebdo magazine’s 2 June edition features on its cover the murder trial of Cécile Brossard, accused of killing her lover, wealthy French banker Edouard Stern, in 2007. GenevaLunch, a partner of l’Hebdo, brings you the English version in two parts.
French version © 2009 l’Hebdo
English version © 2009 GenevaLunch (may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission).
Part two: Edouard Stern, a man and a banker in too much of a hurry
28 February, Geneva: a brutal end, at age 50, to the life of Edouard Stern. Known as the enfant terrible of his bank who was headed for disaster at some point, he finally succeeded in achieving that. He was the offspring of a financial dynasty who, at the age of 22, found himself at the head of the family bank. He turned it into a gem, then sold it in 1988 to Société de Banque Suisse. He then joined his father-in-law, Michel David-Weill, at the centre of power of another high finance bank, Lazard. But his temperament didn’t sit well with the traditionalists. For Stern, business was something to be done quickly, without personal involvement.
Swiss news weekly L’Hebdo magazine’s 2 June edition features on its cover the murder trial of Cécile Brossard, accused of killing her lover, wealthy French banker Edouard Stern, in 2007. GenevaLunch, a partner of l’Hebdo, brings you the English version in two parts, with an introduction by GL editor Ellen Wallace.
French version © 2009 l’Hebdo
English version © 2009 GenevaLunch (may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission). Translation: Sean Ecker
Background: The trial of Cécile Brossard for murdering Edouard Stern opens in Geneva 10 June, and is expected to run to 19 June. With 30 journalists accredited, it will likely remain in the headlines for the length of the trial. She has admitted to murdering her lover, divorced banker Edouard Stern, one of France’s wealthiest men, who was 50 at the time of his death in February 2005. The killing – four gunshots at his luxurious apartment in central Geneva – sparked enormous media interest at the time. The story was a hot mix: money, world travel, an on-again off-again affair he had with a woman 16 years his junior who came from a middle-class small-town French background while he came from generations of banking wealth, and then there was the death scene, with the victim found dressed in a head to toe latex suit that was part of their sadomasochistic sexual games. And then tales of his manipulative behaviour began to eke out, while other observers questioned his killer’s words.
The trial adds to this two well-known lawyers and public curiosity about the woman who committed the crime. Swiss media have already warmed up for the trial: the Tribune de Genève writes of obscure plots, disinformation being spread and swissinfo (in French) relates a tale of passion, power and sex. Suisse Illustré asks, diabolical Mata Hari or fragile woman? TSR, which is putting three journalists on the story, has a video blog to follow the trial.
The story according to L’Hebdo:
