GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Public prosecutors in Egypt have completed their case against former President Hosni Mubarak and they have called for the death penalty, by hanging, for him and seven government officials, including his interior minister, Habib El-Adly. They have argued that he was personally implicated in the deaths of several protesters during the uprising in Egypt in early 2011.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, Ahram, CS Monitor
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The celebrity trial of the year appears to be that of Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, for involuntary manslaughter. The jury said at 11:00 Los Angeles times Monday that it had reached a verdict. GUILTY, they said, one by one.
The Los Angeles Times reported that “Dr Conrad Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Jackson’s death in 2009 from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol. The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated about six hours Friday and about two hours Monday. The panel did not ask any questions or request that any trial testimony be read back.”
The trial has been marked by testimony from both sides about Murray’s role in administering the drug, whether or not Jackson could have administered the lethal dose himself, and ultimately, about Jackson’s state of physical and mental health.
Murray chose not to testify in his own defense, which is common in the US, but made his decision known only 2 November, as the trial drew to a close.
The “foreperson” announced the news at 22:16 Swiss time: there was an error in the date of the “alleged incident” the judge announced before the verdict could be given. And then, one by one, the jurors said they found Murray guilty. The crowd gathered outside the Los Angeles County Courthouse cheered its approval.
Sentencing will be i29 November. Murray was remanded in custody, with bail refused.
Michael Jackson died 25 June 2009 of acute propofol poisoning and cardiac arrest.
PARIS, FRANCE – Carlos, known as the Jackal, is on trial in Paris for crimes committed some 30 years ago, and the courtroom proceedings promise to be colourful, if the first day was anything to go by. His lawyer, who is also his wife, argued that the statute of limitations is not three decades, while the defendant, born in Venezuela as Ilich Ramírez Sánchez blew kisses to a comedian in the audience, looked bored and then at one point leaped to his feet to talk about respecting victims.
Carlos came to fame as a terrorist in the early 1970s when he wounded the head of Marks & Spencers British department store chain, in London. He held several Opec oil ministers hostage in Vienna in 1975 and he is now accused of four bombings in Paris in the early 1980s. Carlos says he wasn’t responsible for them.
French secret service agents kidnapped him in Sudan in 1994 and took him to France, where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1997. He is 62 years old.
Wikipedia notes that “Carlos was dubbed “The Jackal” by The Guardian after one of its correspondents reportedly spied Frederick Forsyth‘s novel The Day of the Jackal near some of the fugitive’s belongings.”
Links to other sites: Figaro (Fr), Guardian, Independent, Reuters video
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Former Unkrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymochenko was handed a seven-year prison sentence Tuesday 11 October, found guilty of criminally abusing her power, in particular of losing large amounts of money in a natural gas deal with Russia. Tymochenko was one of the heroes of the Orange Revolution in 2004 who fought the regime of Victor Yanukovych, widely considered to be tainted by fraud. Tymochenko then lost the presidency in a close race in 2010, to Yanukovych, in a climate coloured by economic discontent.
The judge also ordered her to back the millions lost by the state in the gas deal, and told her she cannot run for political office for three years after completing her prison term.
The trial has been heavily criticized as politically motivated in the West, with Catherine Ashton, European Union foreign minister warning Kiev within two hours of the verdict of “profound implications” for Ukraine and its integration into the EU, if the sentence is upheld.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The trial of two men for the murder of white supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche is underway in South Africa, after two delays. The prosecution claims that the two, a 16-year-old farm worker and Chris Mahlangu, 29, who also worked on Terre’Blanche’s farm, meted out the 28 blows that killed the farmer in April 2010, while the defense says they found the body and called police, but did not commit the crime.
The crime, in northwestern South Africa, “highlighted South Africa’s fragile race relations 16 years after white minority rule ended”, reports the BBC, while the Mail & Guardian in South Africa focuses on technical aspects as the trial opens. Both men are pleading not guilty.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal Tribunal has ordered a new trial for Abba Abacha, son of former Nigerian General Sani Abacha, who ruled the country for five years in the 1990s. He was suspected of stealing more than $2 billion and after his death his sons managed the money.
Abba Abacha was given a two-year suspended sentence in June 2010 by a Geneva court and his assets confiscated, under Switzerland’s programme covering stolen potentate funds. Nigeria had asked the Swiss government for judicial assistance in 1999 to recover the money.
The Swiss high court has ordered the new trial because Abacha was refused a visa and therefore could not attend the earlier trial in Geneva.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Blame or thank the sun: hot weather in June and July caused a serious case of heatstroke, but not to people: the pricey new radar system on the A9 autoroute in Vaud, near the border with Valais, didn’t function as well as expected because of the impact of high temperatures on the box. The test period was therefore extended, to the end of August.
Next week the operational phase starts, 1 September, and with it will come speeding fines based on the mobile radar system’s readings of a driver’s average speed between Bex and Aigle.
The new ANPR system is being tested in Vaud and the A2 Arisdorf tunnel with the idea that the radars will cut the number of speeders and thus accidents, but they will also improve traffic flow. They costs CHF400,000, at least twice as much as a traditional radar.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Russian authorities look set to continue their investigation into the affairs of Sergei Magnitsky, who was beaten to death in prison in November 2009, after the Heritage Capital lawyer spent 11 months in prison, in pre-trial detention. He was arrested on tax evasion charges, reports the Moscow Times, after he “accused several tax and police officials of embezzling $230 million of state money through tax refunds. A case against him was opened shortly thereafter, which was handled by the same officers he accused of corruption.”
A high court ruled in July that the death of an accused person does not mean the case is closed, if his or her family requests that it remain open. Supporters of Magnitsky are divided over whether the case could clear his name or serve public officials who want to justify their case against him.
Switzerland opened an investigation into possible fraud linked to the case in April 2011. Hermitage Capital, based in London, was once the largest foreign investor in Russia; it was founded in 1996 by William Browder and Edmond Safra and specializes in investing in emerging markets. The company has gained a reputation for battling Russian corruption, after bringing to light several cases.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Egypt’s former leader, Hosni Mubarak, arrived in court Wednesday 3 August on a hospital bed for the opening of his trial: he and his sons Alaa and Gamal, and several senior officials and officers are being tried on a number of charges, from killing protesters to illegally gaining wealth. The former president could be given the death sentence if found guilty of ordering protesters to be killed.
Mubarak, 83, fell from power in February 2011. According to Aljazeera, “More than 800 people were killed and about 6,000 wounded in the 18 days of protests that eventually toppled Mubarak’s regime.”
The court case is being widely shown on television, in several countries. The judge decided three days ago to move it to a police academy in Cairo for security reasons, although Egyptian media reported in June that the former president was too frail and ill to be moved.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Voters in Italy soundly rejected a three-part referendum in voting Sunday and Monday 12-13 June, handing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi a defeat that he acknowledged Sunday evening. The referendum asked Italians if they wanted to reject legislation covering three issues:
- a return to a nuclear energy programme
- privatization of water resources
- government officialls’ exemption from the obligation to appear in court if called to trial because of government duties.
Voter turnout was the largest in more than 15 years, 57 percent, despite Berlusconi’s appeal to citizens to boycott the opposition-sponsored referendum. The proposals were rejected by more than 90 percent.
Berlusconi himself currently faces three trials for corruption and one where he is charged with having sex with an under-age prostitute.
Links to other sites: CS Monitor, Deutsche Welle, Irish Times
A trial in France over responsibility for the death of an 11-month-old girl in March 2008 has provoked questions about people’s dietary choices. The French parents are being prosecuted for “neglect or food deprivation followed by death” after their daughter died of complications from bronchitis.
Her parents treated her using only natural methods, from a book published in the 1950s.
Sergine Le Moaligou, the deceased baby’s mother, has been criticized for her vegan lifestyle, which may have been linked to her daughter’s death, according to the deputy state prosecutor. The baby was breastfed her whole life and had vitamin deficiencies that could have made her susceptible to the pneumopulmonary infection. The baby weighed just 5.7kg compared with the normal 8 to 11kg average for her age group.
France, famous for its meat dishes such as foie gras, steak, and various preparations of veal, provides few alternative options for vegetarians and vegans, argues a writer in the Guardian. The case has sparked a worldwide debate about whether the vegan diet is to blame in the baby’s death, or whether the parents simply should have taken medical advice from a qualified doctor.
Links to other sites: CTV, Guardian, France 3, TF1, The Week
A judge in Malaysia has ruled in favour of continuing the criminal case against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is accused of sodomizing a former aide, in 2008. Homosexual activity is illegal in Malaysia; he could face up to 20 years in prison. Ibrahim had argued that the prosecution’s case is politically motivated and has been compromised because the former aide, the key witness in the trial, has reportedly had a romantic relationship with a junior member of the prosecution team. The judge agrees that the two appear to have had such a relationship, but also agrees with the prosecution that the junior member of the team, now dismissed, had no access to sensitive documents or information.
Links to other sites: BBC, Bloomberg/Business Week, Daily Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia (ed. note: a daily not connected to the opposition leader)
Manuel Noriega, 72, former Panamanian dictator, finished 20 years in a US prison only to be extradited to France, where his trial opens today on several charges, including money laundering. He is accused of using three French banks to launder money for a Colombian drug cartel. His lawyers have reportedly taken his case to the International Red Cross (ICRC), pleading that he should be released but that in any event La Sante, the prison in Paris where he is held, is “too dirty and dilapidated” for him. He faces up to 10 years in prison in France if found guity.
Links to others sites: Irish Times, Le Monde (Fre)
The media hoopla promises to be huge as the three-week trial gets underway in Paris of Jérôme Kerviel, accused of a list of crimes that includes breach of trust and unauthorized use of a computer. Kerviel is the trader who was discovered in January 2008 to have lost €4.9bn at Société Générale, before the world’s banking system as a whole went haywire. The saga of one young man nearly pulling down a large French bank was headline news for weeks, but Kerviel then dropped out of the news, eclipsed by the fall of Lehman Brothers and then the global financial crisis as it unfolded. But now the question resurfaces, with implications for banks that were not as clear in early 2008: could one trader, acting alone, really gamble half the value of a large bank without his superiors knowing about it? The bank’s lawyers say yes, while Kerviel’s say no. Stay tuned.
Links to other sites: Euronews, Financial Times, Guardian, Le Monde (Fre)
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Did he or didn’t he? The ages-old dilemma of judges and juries in the face of conflicting evidence has brought a tale of money, adoption, sibling rivalry and murder back into the headlines in the Lake Geneva region. A 46-year-old man put behind bars for life in 2008 for murdering the aging mother who adopted him and a close friend of hers, purportedly for money, is being tried again because of new evidence. The two women were found dead 24 December and the man’s sister disappeared that day.
A bakery employee, who only saw the story once the man was sentenced, came forward to say that she had in fact waited on the women at a time when police say they were already dead, a detail which could unravel the public defender’s case.The accused murderer has complicated the case from the start by handing out different versions of what happened.
Monday the imprisoned man told the court that he had made up the various stories about his actions under pressure from police. He now says that he played no role at all in the deaths.
The women were found dead 24 December 2005. The accused man’s brother has argued that he should not be allowed to touch any of the family’s considerable fortune, made in real estate.
Background, GenevaLunch
Update 13:30 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The trial for fraud opened in Lausanne Monday morning 25 January of Dr Julien Bogousslavsky, world-renowned neurologist and specialist in strokes. He is accused of pocketing CHF5.3 million, money he reputedly took from the coffers of the university hospital’s neurology department, as well as research funds provided by companies.
Bogousslavsky admitted at the trial opening that he had taken the money, and he apologized, saying that he was glad the situation had ended.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The two guides who worked with a military team scaling the Jungfrau when an avalanche hit and killed six in the group now face the possibility of a new trial. The prosecutor in the case Wednesday 25 November filed an appeal against the judgement last Thursday that acquitted the two guides, who were awarded damages.
Background: Guides acquitted in Jungfrau military accident, 20 November 2009, GenevaLunch
The prosecution in the trial of former Khmer Rouge prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, asked the court 25 November to sentence him to 40 years prison for overseeing the torture and deaths of more than 12,000 people who passed through the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An estimated two million people died in Cambodia during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime.
Comrade Duch has cooperated with the prosecution and expressed remorse for his actions. The prosecution described his “unrelenting brutality.” A verdict by the UN-backed court on the outskirts of Phnom Penh is expected early next year.
Links to other sites: BBC, Globe and Mail, Canada, Phnom Penh Post
Bern / Chur, Graubuenden, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two guides who have been on trial for their part in the deaths of six soldiers during a military mountain training expedition on the Jungfrau have been acquitted. They were on trial in a Swiss military court for involuntary manslaughter and for not observing military regulations.
Radnan Karadzic, former leader of Bosnian Serbs, goes on trial in The Hague Monday 26 October, charged with 11 counts of genocide and war crimes during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. He is being tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and is reportedly planning to boycott the start of the trial, saying he needs more time to prepare. Karadzic, who was arrested in July 2008 after 13 years of hiding, plans to defend himself.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Reuters
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Former mayor of Geneva, André Hediger, was sentenced 12 October to pay a CHF 1,800 fine for abusing his position as mayor. As mayor he had traffic fines anulled which were given to him, his friends and members of his family over a 10-year period. The accusations ended the Communist politician’s political career. He was the head of the municipal sports and public safety department for 20 years. The trial has taken three and a half years. Hediger’s lawyer said he would appeal.
Update 14:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevLunch) – Geneva’s public prosecutor, Daniel Zapelli, has now prepared his case against the key people responsible for the collapse of Geneva’s cantonal bank (BCGE), reported the Tribune de Genève 1 October. The article gives a detailed account of the bank’s scandal 10 years ago, based on Zapelli’s 600-page indictment, which the Tribune obtained. Lawyers and government officials have expressed anger in the wake of the article, that a newspaper should have obtained a copy of the indictment before the parties concerned, reports 20 Minutes.
The debacle cost the canton CHF2 billion, and a foundation had to be created to pay off its debts. Hearings in the case began in 2000 and ended only in 2008: they resulted in 3,700 pages of recorded hearings, 40 binders for general information and 1,500 binders of documents related to the hearings, according to an article Le Temps wrote in 2007 about the lengthy judicial process for the case.
Update 18:08 Zurich, Switzerland and Miami, Florida (GenevaLunch) – Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld was sentenced to 40 months in prison by a US court 21 August for helping to defraud the US government. He was also fined $30,000 and given three years probation after the prison term.
The sentence was harsher than expected. The prosecution had been demanding 30 months imprisonment, given Birkenfeld’s cooperation with the prosecution in the UBS tax evasion case.
The European Union reacted sharply Saturday 8 August to the trial in Iran of a French embassy and two British embassy employees, as well as a French student and teacher of French, saying that the Iranian government was acting against the EU itself, and it would respond accordingly. Twenty-four-year-old Clothilde Reiss apologized to the court and said she had been mistaken when she protested with others against the results of the recent Iranian election. She risks up to five years in prison. Hossein Rassam, a 44-year-old political analyst at the British Embassy, also reportedly apologized, in his case for inciting unrest, with the quotes coming from Iranian media, since international media were barred from the trial. Le Monde (Fre) and Times, UK
Update 15:40 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss authorities are investigating charges by a US man, who has pleaded guilty to tax evasion in the US, that a Swiss government official was bribed to provide his lawyer with information on the UBS court case. The information purportedly indicated, incorrectly, that his name was not among the 250 that UBS would eventually gave to IRS tax authorities in the US.
Reuters notes that bribery is extremely rare in Switzerland and the accusations have prompted concern in Bern, the capital, and among banking circles. Transparency International in its latest (2008) bribe payers’ index, puts Switzerland near the top of the list of relatively corruption-clean countries.
Earlier in the day 29 July Swiss media carried a report from wire service ATS that Alan Gold, the judge in the UBS bank case in the US, has scheduled a meeting by telephone Wednesday with the US Justice Department and Switzerland, to clarify progress being made towards an out of court settlement. The two parties to the case were encouraged by the judge 13 July to explore a settlement in the case where the IRS tax authority is demanding the names of 52,000 holders of UBS bank accounts.
In related news:
- a UBS client in the US, Jeffrey Chernick of New York, Tuesday 28 July pleaded guilty to fiscal fraud, saying that a Swiss lawyer had talked him out of turning himself in and paying back taxes in October 2008. The lawyer, according to Chernick’s court statement, assured him that a Swiss government official said his name was not on a list that would be given by the bank to the IRS. The attorney told Chernick the government official was paid CHF45,000 for the information. Chernick is the third person to plead guilty to tax evasion charges, from the group of 250 whose names were given to the IRS in February. Chicago Tribune and RSR, Fre
- former head of the UBS wealth management unit in the US, Joseph Grano, says that in early 2008, before the bank’s problems with the IRS were public, he wrote to the bank’s then-chairman and president, Marcel Ospel and Marcel Rohner, suggesting they spin off the unit, but they never replied. Bloomberg
Lawyers for Brossard told journalists after the sentencing that they will not appeal
Journalists crowd around Palais de Justice entrance
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Cécile Brossard, who killed her lover Edouard Stern in Geneva in 2005, has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. She has served four of those. Yesterday’s harsh judgement by the jury, convicting Brossard of homicide rather than of a crime of passion, was softened by the relatively light sentence: she could have received as much as 20 years, and a crime of passion normally carries a lighter sentence of one to 10 years in prison.
It was a hot day in Geneva and crowds headed for the cafes near the Palais de Justice rather than courtrooms while Cécile B, as she was known in the French press, was sentenced
The public defender had called for 11 years but her lawyers asked for compassion, suggesting she be allowed to leave prison as soon as possible. She will in fact most likely be eligible to leave at the end of 2010.
TSR notes that the documents, photos, latex suit in which the murdered man was found, the weapon and other items related to the crime and trial will be destroyed, citing the court president.
Related: TSR, Fre
Click on images to view larger
Update 07:55 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Popular interest in Cécile Brossard’s trial for the murder of wealthy French banker Edouard Stern in Geneva in 2005 is in little danger of lagging, if the crowds queuing at 08:30 Monday 15 June for the public seats are any indication. The trial’s fourth day ended with Brossard giving “contradictory” testimony, according to TSR. Le Temps Tuesday morning carries a lengthy description of Monday’s session, where Brossard for the first time described in court what happened the night of the murder. Earlier in the day the crowd listened attentively to tape recorded messages Stern left Brossard and to police recordings of phone calls between Brossard and her husband or her friends.
What the Swiss (French) media are saying:
Le Temps refers to the “infernal relationship” between Stern and Brossard in pointing out the change Monday from the teary-eyed Brossard seen last week to the woman Monday who appeared to be made of marble while she listened, first to tender messages left on her cell phone by Stern and later to others that were cruel and crude.
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.
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Genève, Fre) – The trial opened Monday 8 June of the 47-year-old TPG (Geneva transport company) bus driver charged with homicide by negligence in a January 2007 accident that took the life of a woman. The 52-year-old French nurse was driving a La Citroën on the Route de Florissant at 06:45 when the bus driver ran a red light, possibly going too fast, pushing her car several metres into a tree. She remained in a coma until her death six weeks later.
