Former Swiss Life finance director’s sentence cut to 22 months, suspended
Geneva gripped by court case over couple’s involvement in girlfriend’s death
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A judge in Sion this week sentenced the driver of a van that crashed into a military vehicle on the A9 autoroute to 22 months in prison, going beyond the public prosecutor’s request for 18 months in prison and a 5-year suspended sentence. The accident took the lives of two of the driver’s fellow workers, both Portuguese, one age 62 and the other age 21. It also left three people injured, one of them, a 22-year-old Valais worker, who was left in critical condition.
The van crashed into a military vehicle that was stopped in the emergency lane of the A9 autoroute near Vernayaz in October 2010. The driver was over the legal alcohol limit. The judge, in passing the sentence, noted that he had already been condemned in 2002 for drunk driving and in 2004 he had killed a cyclist while driving although no alcohol was involved, according to Le Nouvelliste. The judge also noted that the man had falsely claimed at one point during the trial that one of his victims had been driving the van.
He gave up drinking only two months ago and had shown little remorse towards his victims, the judge added.
Several other court cases around the country are making headlines this week, including:
Zurich, Swiss Life, Dominique Morax, former head of finances for Swiss Life, saw his sentence reduced from 30 to 22 months for swindling the company’s directors in a 2002 deal; he was sentenced in 2010 but appealed.
Geneva, a court is hearing arguments that the owner of an Italian trucking firm should be charged with negligent homicide, in addition to his driver, for the death in March 2011 of a 20-year-old scooter rider. The driver, Serbian, was obliged by his boss to driver longer than the legally permitted number of hours, the victim’s family argues.
Vaud, the court is hearing arguments that the death of local councillor Catherine Ségalat in Vaux-sur-Morges was murder, while her stepson Laurent Ségalat’s lawyers say her fatal fall down a flight of stairs was an accident. Much depends on testimony from witnesses, some of whom say there was “tension” between the pair and others who say not. The politician died in January 2010.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A Bern youth, 18, and two from Valais, both 19, were arrested at the scene of a break-in in Collombey, canton Valais, in the early hours of 17 May, canton Vaud police said Friday 25 May. The three had climbed a metal grill door at a business in the village at 02:50 and were stealing tools when the alarm went off.
A security guard stopped them and two patrol cars that arrived rapidly took them into custody.
The three all live in Valais, in the area near the break-in.
A9 new radar speeding fines kick in 16 May
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – One year of testing and improving the ANPR radar system on the stretch of A9 autoroute between Aigle and Bex has come to an end and starting tomorrow you’ll pay the price if you put your foot on the pedal too hard.
Police in Vaud say fines will be issued starting 16 May.
Foreign drivers will also be fined or worse
Foreigners beware, you’re included: police here have agreements with France and Germany and fines and other penalties are sent automatically directly to them. Reminder: the Swiss autoroute speed limit is 120kph unless marked otherwise.
Jean-Christophe Sauterel, head of communications for Vaud Police, told GenevaLunch that drivers from elsewhere can also be denounced to police in their own countries; the difference is that the process is simply not automatic.
The ANPR radars, unlike traditional ones, measure a car’s speed over a distance, rather than at one point. Trialing the system over the 8km Aigle-Bex area just before the border with canton Valais has shown that the system is effective in smoothing out the flow of traffic and improving safety. Speeding has fallen by 40 percent overall, and speeding at more than 10kph above the limit has gone down by 60 percent on the largely straight, flat stretch of road.
The radar was put into use in May 2011, but ran into problems in June and July when unusually hot weather caused the devices, made by Multanova, to function incorrectly some of the time. The latest devices, a new generation model, have been adjusted over the past few months and integrated into the automatic fines system.
Beware, drivers with trailers
The one group whose speed has not been reduced significantly is cars and campers with trailers, who are limited to 80kph. The new radars recognizes and measures different types of vehicles according to their allowed speed limits, and police in Vaud are urging this group to slow down or pay the price.
Canton Vaud tells Bern: pump money into public transport
The slow boat to Lausanne: the canton would like to see low-energy but high-speed options developed
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Cleaner air, healthier citizens, faster transport – Canton Vaud’s infrastructure department head François Marthaler says we can have it all, by speeding up investments in public transport, and he is calling on Bern to do so.
Marthaler’s demand in a statement from the cantonal council Friday 11 May comes on the heels of the first federal microcensus for transport and mobility, issued last week. The federal figures, combined with other cantonal numbers, show that train use is on the rise and cars are gradually slipping from favour.
Switzerland until recently ran a census every 10 years, but the use of digital databases has made it practical to compile annual microcensuses that focus on a limited number of subjects which were previously part of the longer-term census.
Regular use of public transport up
More than 60,000 people took part in the mobility microcensus. It shows that cars used as a share of overall transport have fallen from 77 percent in 2000 to 75 percent in 2005 and 72 percent in 2010. The number of cars per inhabitant has also been sliding, from 530 per 1,000 during the 2001-2005 period to 512 per 1,000 last year.
Worth noting: population growth was 1.9 percent, or 13,500 people more, from 2010 to 2011.
Vaud residents are becoming more regular public transport users, with 46 percent of them having some form of special rate “abonnement” card, compared to 37 percent in 2005.
The canton argues that the CHF6 billion earmarked by the federal government as an optional budget item to speed up the expansion of regional train service is the minimum for what needs to be invested.
Improving car traffic will make public transport function better
The council makes the argument that the project to improve the ring road around Lausanne is crucial to help the shift to public transport: if traffic is drained from Lausanne more rapidly onto the autoroute, public transport in the city will function more effectively.
Another crucial part of the transport picture is bicycles and pedestrians and here, the council notes, Vaud lags behind the rest of Switzerland. The potential to develop bicycle and pedestrian paths is huge, says the council, which would like to see these developed more in the greater Lausanne area.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The score this week: Valais and Vaud police 10, robbers 0.
The flashy robberies, masked men with little but deadly guns and cash registers being emptied, usually get our attention, but many of the thefts in the Lake Geneva region, particularly of businesses, is the result of break-ins. Police work often takes time to pay off and is usually less dramatic but DNA left at the site of crimes is increasingly being used to identify robbers. This week Vaud police announced they have arrested seven people for a string of more than 50 break-ins, mostly of area businesses, and thefts amounting to over CHF100,000 plus rings, jewels, cell phones and electronic equipment.
Canton Valais police say they caught three men on the autoroute shortly after they robbed a business in Martigny 30 April. The loot, for an unspecified amount was recovered from the men’s car.
The Vaud arrests came after three months of investigation into 57 robberies. The main culprit is a 29-year-old Kosovar man who took part in at least 52 of the crimes, DNA left at the scenes showed, a series of crimes committed from July 2010 to 2012. The others under arrest are also all Kosovar nationals, aged 29 to 48.
The three men, all from Georgia, who were arrested in Valais are residents of asylum centres: in Visp, Valais and Pully and Gland in canton Vaud.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 78-year-old cyclist died Friday afternoon when he slipped under a heavy farm vehicle and was run over. The Vaud man died at the scene of the accident.
He was standing with a group of 8 cyclists at the edge of a farm road near Chavorney, to let the machine pass as it came out of a field, when he suddenly slipped under the wheels, according to witnesses. Police noted that everyone in the group, including the deceased man, was wearing safety equipment.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The Tour de Romandie bicycle race gets underway Tuesday 24 April, with racers facing nearly 700 km run over the course of the six-day race and 8,800 metres of altitude differences.
Tuesday’s prologue takes the riders along the Ouchy quai in Lausanne towards Morges. The first race is Wednesday, from Morges to La Chaux-de-Fonds and it ends in Crans-Montana Sunday 29 April.
Vaud police are alerting motorists that traffic facing the oncoming race will be stopped and drivers will have to be patient while the race passes, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Areas affected:
Wednesday 25 April
Morges - La Chaux-de-Fonds
Departure Morges, Quai du Mont-Blanc (12h35) – Echichens – Romanel-sur-Morges – Aclens – Gollion – Allens – Cossonay (12h54) – La Sarraz – Pompaples – Arnex-sur-Orbe – Orbe (13h14) – Mathod – Montagny – Les Tuileries – Grandson (13h35) – Onnens – Corcelles-Concise – Concise (13h46) – Canton de Neuchâtel
Friday 27 April
La Neuveville – Charmey
Departure Canton de Berne (13h30) – Canton de Fribourg (13h50) – Mur (14h03) – Guévaux – Vallamand – Vallamand-Dessous – Salavaux (14h09) – Canton de Fribourg – Missy (14h17) – Vallon – Ressudens – Grandcour (14h23) – Canton de Fribourg – Yvonand (14h48) – Arrissoules – Rovray – Chavannes-le-Chêne – Combremont-le-Petit – Cremin – Lucens (15h20) -Curtilles – Sarzens – Brenles (15h35) – Canton de Fribourg
Saturday 28 April
Bulle – Sion
Departure Canton de Fribourg (12h25) – La Tine (13h05) – Rossinière – Les Moulins – L’Etivaz – La Lécherette – Col des Mosses (13h42) – La Comballaz – Aigle (13h57) – Bex (14h10) – Canton du Valais
WW2 event revival for young athletes from greater Lake Geneva region in France and Switzerland
Revived after 60 years: the Jeux de Geneve
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva is reviving its Jeux de Genève sports event 12-13 May, with 2,000 young athletes from the region competing in 22 disciplines.
The Games date back to the second world war, with Geneva running the Games from 1940-1951 as a forum where athletes could be selected for international competitions.
The new games are part of growing cross-border programmes that are starting to give the greater Lake Geneva region a clearer profile. Athletes from Vaud, Ain, Haute-Savoie and Geneva will be competing.
A number of special competitions in various sports will be part of the overall games and awarding titles, including the Coupe genevoise, the Championnats genevois, and a Championnat romand.
The project is backed by the Association Genevoise des Sports, the canton and the city of Geneva, with a focus on the role sports play in peace.
The sports disciplines and the four sites where the Games take place
The search for work continues - Photopress/Martin Ruetschi
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s unemployment rate fell from 3.4 to 3.2 percent in March, despite government predictions that it will slowly climb during the rest of this year. The jobless rate in canton Valais, which traditionally has one of the highest unemployment rates after Geneva, fell by 0.9 percent, compared to the national drop of 0.2 percent, the biggest improvement of any canton.
Geneva remains the canton with the highest unemployment rate, at 5.3 percent for March, but the difference compared to other regions is diminishing: Vaud in March was 5.2 and Neuchatel and Ticino were both at 4.8 percent.
Geneva’s jobless rate has been falling steadily, from 7 percent in 2010 to 6 percent last year and 5.5 percent for 2012 to date. Valais in March had an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent.
Finance jobs took a dip, although the hiring situation for the big banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, has improved slightly.
March saw 25 percent fewer finance jobs being offered than a year earlier, with 35 percent fewer in the banking industry, while the insurance industry was less affected. Half of the open jobs were in Zurich, with only 17 percent in French-speaking Switzerland.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 50-year-old Swiss man from the Jura was arrested in March, canton Vaud police announced 4 April, during a break-in in Delemont, while the family was off at a funeral. Police had been tracking him since January after a number of thefts, mainly of money and jewelry, that followed announcements in newspapers of a death.
An investigation has been opened into what appears to be 20 break-ins during the time people have left their homes while at funerals. The robberies occurred mainly in canton Vaud, but some were committed in Neuchatel, Fribourg, Jura, and Bern.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Spring is blooming in the hills above the famous Lavaux vineyards but one driver was going too fast to notice them Wednesday evening 28 March. A 20-year-old Swiss driver with a three-year new driver permit, was clocked by police going 161kph in an 80 zone at 17:45 while driving between Savigny and Forel-Lavaux in a sports car.
Given the 5kph margin for error the police allow, he was officially recorded as going 156. He was identified and stopped shortly after by police in Oron-la-Ville, where his license was taken away.
Young drivers who are covered by the three-year new driver permit are subject to more serious sanctions, police note, including losing their licenses.
Police in Vaud and Geneva join forces to combat cross-border theft
Number of assaults in Geneva fell in 2011
Violent crimes fell in Geneva in 2011: orange shows simple injuries and yellow serious plus homicides (Source: Geneva Police / OFS statistics)
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Geneva tops the Swiss list for a 2011 rise in property crimes, including break-ins and theft, but Lausanne, Basel, Bern and Zurich also saw increases last year that outpaced population growth and were well above the national average of 71 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Geneva’s violent crimes, including all degrees and forms of assault, fell in 2011, however; one exception was the increase from 4 (2008) to 15 knife attacks, in four years.
Urban border regions in western Switzerland in particular have seen cross-border burglary increases and Tuesday the cantonal ministers in charge of police for Geneva and Vaud announced a joint task force to step up coordination with French police to tackle the problem.
They are also calling for tougher penalties against repeat offenders and note that the “Lake Geneva region appears to have become a privileged target for robbers.”
Two features of the cross-border crime that are worrying police in Geneva, reports swissinfo, are the number of under-age Balkans working in theft in a stretch from Milan to Paris and a shift from street crime to burglaries by a group of about 400 North Africans living illegally in Geneva.
Burglaries in Geneva rose 29 percent in 2011, break-ins 19 percent and vehicle theft 9 percent
The new European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics 2010 indicates that Switzerland has one of the highest rates of criminal problems linked to migration, but the most recent figures are five years old, covering 2003-2007, and European reporting standards differ. The UK, for example, records ethnic background rather than nationality for criminals arrested, while Switzerland, which has one of Europe’s highest rates of resident foreigners, lists nationality.
Geneva and Basel are the only two cantons with 2011 crime rates higher than 100 per 1,000: 159 for Geneva and 119 for Basel (source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office)
Crime statistics for Switzerland for 2011 were released Monday by the Federal Statistical Office in Neuchatel, and include cantonal details.
Cantonal police have been releasing highway and accident statistics in the past few days.
Overall, numbers show a mixed safety picture, with property crimes up, more foreigners entering and re-entering the country illegally and who are often linked to other crimes.
Nationwide, violent crimes are down by 7 percent and in the Lake Geneva region there were fewer road accidents.
Geneva was the subject of much media hype in 2011 about personal safety and crime but the statistics don’t bear out complaints that the city is unsafe, physically, although residents and visitors would do well to watch their cars, motorbikes and bags, with theft on the rise.
Vaud saw its overall crime rate jump 18.6 percent, with a 14 percent increase in break-ins and 7 percent increase in robberies. Country-wide the rate of break-ins rose 16 percent. Car theft was up by 4 percent.
A concern in Vaud is the “massive presence of Bulgarian and Romanian prostitutes, implying a potential problem with human trafficking,” the canton notes in a press release. Police closed down immediately 7 of the more than 700 massage parlours they checked during the year.
Morges train station
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 65-year-old man who lives in the Lake Geneva Riviera area made racial remarks to a group of youths Friday 23 March in the 22:30 Geneva to Brig train, shortly before Morges and was attacked by some of them.
He was punched and suffered knife wounds to the throat and chest, near the heart, but his life is not in danger, say Vaud Police.
Two young men were arrested, ages 20 and 17, one of them Swiss and the other Bolivian. Both live in Geneva and the second has a B permit.
Police are seeking witnesses who can provide any information related to the incident. The man came out of the toilets on the train at 22:50 and made what police describe as “xenophobic” remarks to the group. He was punched in the face and knifed during the fight that broke out.
He phoned police while chasing his attackers, and all of them got off the train in Morges, which remained in the station as police arrived. Other members of the group were questioned on the train by police but the two suspected of the attack were caught by police about 100 metres from the Morges train station.
Anyone with information is asked to go to the nearest police station or phone +41 21 644 4444.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – An 18-year-old drowned,and two friends who were with him on a small craft in Lake Geneva early Friday morning were hospitalized at the Chuv university hospitals. The three were spotted by a passerby at 06:15 who phoned the 117 emergency number after noticing that they were in trouble in the lake near the Bellerive swimming pool.
Police arrived quickly and took charge of the two who had managed to swim to shore but were suffering from hypothermia. They told police their friend was missing and a search, with the police lake brigade and police units from Lausanne and Morges, as well as a Rega helicopter, got underway.
His body was found soon after, in 2.8 metres of water just 30-40 metres from shore.
The three youths had stolen a small plastic rowboat and were headed towards Morges, on a calm lake, but with the water only 7C. For reasons police say are not yet clear, the boat overturned.
The three were from Neuchatel.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A car that attracted the attention of police in Founex, canton Vaud, at 10:40 Saturday morning 3 March turned out to have stolen plates and when police took up positions to try to stop the car it took off rapidly. The car led police on a high-speed chase through Commugny, Founex, Chavannes-de-Bogis and Bogis-Bossey, driving on the wrong side of the road at times and crashing into two police vehicles, one belonging to customs police and the other to the cantonal gendarmerie.
When the vehicles was stopped the three occupants fled on foot. Two were captured and one remains at large. The two Frenchmen who were arrested are ages 27 and 28.
Customs police in Geneva activated the French-Swiss customs police cooperation centre (Centre de coopération police douane, CCPD), which coordinated the work of 23 patrols called into action, from Bursins, the Vaud gendarmerie dog unit, Nyon communal police, customs police, canton Geneva police and the French gendarmerie.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in canton Valais have arrested a group of 16- and 17-year-olds who have been operating a theft ring in canton Valais, stealing some CHF100,000 worth of goods during 23 robberies. They broke into gas stations, public offices, businesses and shopping centres.
The eight all have police records and the group committed similar crimes in cantons Vaud and Valais. Few of the goods have been recovered.
They stole cigarettes, which they shared among themselves, tools for more break-ins, cash and alcohol. Several safes were stolen.
In addition they stole five cars in the Lake Geneva region, driven the cars on several occasions without licenses and committed a number of infractions. One of the cars was involved in an accident in Geneva and the car damaged to the tune of several thousand francs.
The eight youths in the theft ring are: three Swiss, with one from Geneva and two from canton Vaud, 2 from Kosovo, 1 Algerian, 1 Tunisian and 1 Bosnian. All were taken into custody and several remain there.
Update 10 February: pair found, in good condition
Photos removed to respect family’s privacy
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND / PARIS, FRANCE – Mizué Bachelard and her seven-year-old daughter Hanaé may have been seen in Annecy, Swiss police said Friday. The mother and child disappeared Thursday evening 26 January and have been tracked to Paris. Police in Paris have opened a “worrying disappearance” investigation and police in canton Vaud, Switzerland, have opened an investigation for “putting the life of another in danger”.
A police team from Lausanne is in Paris working closely with French police.
The mother, 35, is described by police as “psychologically fragile”.
The mother and daughter were possibly spotted Thursday 3 February at 02:30 in the morning on the A40, in an autoroute toll booth area, but they say they can’t rule out or be certain the pair seen were Bachelard and her daughter.
French police have traced the woman to Paris Friday 27 January when she appeared at Éditions Albin Michel, 34 bd Edgar Quinet in the 14th arrondissement at 08:30. She had sent the publisher a manuscript by post. At 09:40 that morning she took money from a cash machine on the rue de Sèvre in the 6th arrondissement. The mother and daughter were wearing the same clothes they had on when they were seen at a gas station in Bursins, canton Vaud, Switzerland, the night of Thursday 26 January.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Vaud police at +41 21 644 4444.
Description
Mizué Bachelard is 160cm tall, thin and “wispy”, with chestnut hair (she often wears it tied with a band) and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a pink pullover, checkered pants or pyjama-style bottoms, and a brown-beige coat.
Her daughter is 120cm tall, thin, with chestnut hair and light blue eyes.
She was wearing a red and white striped pullover, dark pants and a blue jacket with a hood.
Car: blue Nissan Micra car, Vaud license plates VD 551’987 .
Update 10 February: Pair found, now safe. Photos removed to protect family’s privacy
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police in two cantons have issued missing persons reports Wednesday 1 February, and they are asking the public for help finding them.
Canton Vaud police say 35-year-old Mizué Bachelard and her 7-year-old daughter Hanaé Noémi disappeared Tuesday evening 31 January from their home in Chexbres.
The mother is “psychologically fragile” say police.
They put out an alert after the mother bought petrol in Bursins, on the A1 autoroute, for her blue Nissan Micra car, Vaud license plates VD 551’987 at 19:40.
She then took money out of a bank cash machine in Versoix and at 09:00 this morning out of a machine in Paris. Mizué Bachelard is 160cm tall, thin and wispy, with chestnut hair (she often wears it tied with a band) and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink pullover, checkered pants or pyjama-style bottoms, and a brown-beige coat.
Her daughter is 120cm tall, thin, with chestnut hair and light blue eyes. She was wearing a red and white striped pullover, dark pants and a blue jacket with a hood.
Police believe the pair may be in Paris.
They ask anyone with information to phone +41 21 644 4444.
Valais youth missing from home since 26 January
Bastien Monnet, 18 years old, has not been seen since the night of 26 January in St Maurice.
Sebastien Monnet, missing from St Maurice
He is 187 cm tall, trim build, dark brown hair cut very short, brown eyes. He was last seen wearing military pants with US Army on them and very large side pockets, a black jacket with hood covered in logos, a black winter jacket with small red and gray motifs and black cloth trainers.
Police in canton Valais are asking anyone with information to contact them at +41 27 326 5656.
Bolder thieves: rush hour main street robbery in Rolle
Rolle, main street supermarket robbery Wednesday
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Armed robbers in the Lake Geneva region are getting bolder, with a supermarket hold-up on the main street of Rolle at 19:00 Wednesday night the latest example.
Two masked men broke into the Grand-rue store (police do not mention the Coop at that address specifically) at 19:00, after closing hours and “violently” threatened two of the four employees at gunpoint before making off with an undisclosed sum of money. The two, ages 26 and 30, were in shock but otherwise unharmed, say police.
Two other employees were not directly involved and there were no customers in the store at the time.
The thieves fled “in an unknown direction” and have not been found, despite a significant police search. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at +41 21 644 4444.
Description: 180-190cm tall for the first, both men of average build, wearing dark clothes, with one speaking French with a North African accent.
Valais thieves nabbed
Two thieves, ages 62 and 68, who live in France, were caught in the act of breaking and entering Monday 23 January at 23:00 in Evionnaz, canton Valais. Police were phoned after someone noticed suspicious lights on in an area business, on the Route du Simplon. The building was quickly surrounded and police caught one man attempting to leave the premises and soon found a second man parked at the train station. Stolen goods from three local businesses were found: money, cameras and cell phones.
The two have police records in France, Valais police note.
Vaud, 2 other armed robberies this week: hairdresser’s shop, bank machine client
Earlier this week Vaud police reported two holdups, one Wednesday in Payerne, where a hairdresser was robbed by a man with a knife just as she was closing, and the other a woman in Gland who had just taken money from a bank machine near the post office at midday.
The 44-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint in Gland at 12:30 Saturday. His description: 20-25-year-old man, European in appearance, 175-180cm tall and thin, dressed in a black sweatshirt with hood, black scarf and gloves, black pistol. He fled in the direction of the train station and has not yet been found.
The Payerne hold-up was also carried out by a thin young man, 175cm in height, wearing dark clothes, speaking French with an accent that could not be identified. He fled the scene and despite a search with dogs and several police patrols, he has not yet been found.
Geneva police arrest 3 on several charges after Sunday night high-speed chase
Police in Geneva have three men, ages 19-23, under arrest following a high-speed chase late Sunday. All three reside in Geneva but are Kosovar, Serbian and Macedonian. The stolen car they were traveling in was spotted by police at the intersection of rue Lect and the routes du Nant-d’Avril and Satigny at 22:00. The driver of the car, instead of stopping when the patrol car put on its flashing lights, took off and led police on a high-speed chase. The car was finally stopped in Meyrin and the men taken into custody, where they admitted to a series of local crimes:
- the car was stolen 14 January when they were stopped by a police officer while they were stealing copper from a Lignon construction site; they escaped in the car, which the police officer managed to photograph, after one of them showed the office a Swiss passport, which turned out to be stolen
- the person whose passport was stolen reported it to Geneva police 16 January, showing a complaint filed earlier in Vaud: his house in canton Vaud had been broken into 3 January and he had filed a complaint with police there for the stolen passport and jewels
- the stolen car was reported by Vaud police in connection with unpaid petrol at a station in Yverdon 20 January
- two of the three held up a woman earlier Sunday evening, at a Vernier car wash, where one said he was a policeman and demanded her wallet; they then fled with the wallet, including her identity papers, which police found when they stopped the men. When they phoned the woman she said she had not yet had a chance to report the theft to police
- the man who had posed as a police officer admitted it and said that he had been driving the stolen car daily, without a license, and that on his own he had robbed a number of villas in Lausanne, Morges, Nyon and Fribourg.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton Vaud police are seeking the driver of a dark VW Golf following an accident at 09:00 Monday morning 9 January on the A1 autoroute between Rolle and Gland, in the direction of Geneva. A metallic gray Skoda was in the left lane, just before the La Côte layby, passing a truck, when the driver was surprised by the Golf, which suddenly moved towards the left lane. The two cars scraped their sides, but continued to the Gland exit, where the VW Golf driver continued without stopping or reporting the accident to police.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact them by phone at +41 21 644 4444 or to go to the nearest police station.
Clearing the roof, 30 December 2011, near Crans-Montana, Valais
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Too much of a good thing, with more and more snow falling, means that many lifts in the Swiss Alps are not open Friday: more than a foot fell overnight, more is expected Friday night and Meteoswiss is predicting strong northwest winds throughout the Alps Saturday.
Alps and avalanche reports
Check directly with resorts as the situation is rapidly changing for piste closings and openings, due to weather:
Anzere, Crans-Montana, Leysin-Aigle, Verbier, Villars-Gryon, Saas-Fee, Zermatt
The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, WSL, bulletin concludes with: “On Saturday, continuous and intermittently intense snowfall is anticipated in all regions of the Swiss Alps except the furthermost south. The northwesterly wind will be blowing at strong velocity. The snowfall level is expected to ascend towards 1800 m over the course of the day. On Sunday, the precipitation will taper off in northern regions. In southern regions it will be sunny. The avalanche danger will escalate significantly on Saturday, presumably giving rise to increasingly frequent naturally triggered avalanches.”
Jura report
by Shirley Curran
With more snow falling, we look set for a good season. The cold weather and snow are expected to continue until Saturday when milder conditions are expected with some sunshine. The start of January promises to be warmer than recent days and our resorts will have a fine covering of snow, with the fresh that is falling now. Crowds will have diminished. Now is the time to enjoy ski-ing less than half an hour from the Swiss frontier!
Ed. note: at noon Friday the ski runs were open - check for updates
Great weather for snowshoes, ski touring, ice skating and sledding!
Snowshoes in canton Valais: perfect way to get around 30 December
Rolle, Lake Geneva, 16 December 2011
GENEVA / ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich airport is suffering major disruptions due to storms Friday evening 16 December and Geneva airport saw delays during the day, as winter blew into Switzerland with a vengeance.
Valais police are reporting several roads closed due to heavy snow, and the car/train link between Goppenstein and Kandersteg was closed Friday. Trees are down in several parts of Vaud, with one tree hitting three cars in Lausanne.
Joachim is the name of the storm that blasted its way across parts of the Jura and Bern Friday morning, bringing high winds and storms that churned up Lake Neuchatel.
Zurich airport reported some cancelled or delayed flights Friday morning, notably from Nice, London and Amsterdam, all affected by storms. By Friday evening Swiss was sending people to a “bad weather in Europe” page and Zurich airport was showing several flights cancelled or delayed, including Paris and London flights.
Geneva airport, which opened its new visitor center officially 16 December was only lightly touched, with some London flights cancelled and minor delays as the Lake Geneva region was drenched by winds and torrential rains.
The Swiss Institute for snow and avalanche danger has put most of canton Valais on a red alert (level 4) for avalanche danger. Postal cars on the Gampel-Steg and Blatten (Lötschen) line are not running because of the danger of avalanches.
Weather has also closed several regional train lines, including Rochers-de-Naye.
Lake Geneva at Rolle 16 December, looking towards Evian and the French Alps where the clouds are dumping snow
A few decades ago, Sion's prisoners were incarcerated on top of a steep hill; today they are held in a prison down near the Rhone river
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The reputation for newly arrived Tunisian refugees charged by Swiss media with committing a high number of crimes will not be helped any by a high-speed chase between Sion in canton Valais and Bex in Vaud Saturday 3 December.
A prisoner, a 22-year-old Tunisian, escaped from the Sion penitentiary by climbing on the roof at 09:45 Saturday, jumping onto an attached building, then sliding down the side where he stole a car that had the keys in the ignition.
Police set up a large manhunt and alerted other cantonal police. He was spotted on the A9 autoroute near St Maurice, heading towards Vaud and a Valais patrol car gave chase. Three Valais police patrols joined Vaud ones. Chablais municipal police set up a roadblock at the Bex exit, but the prisoner crashed through it and drove at high speeds through the town of Bex, police on his tail.
He headed towards Ollon, but a police car was able to overtake him on a straight stretch of road and force him off the road. He was captured after the car he was driving overturned and landed on its roof.
Agrandir le plan
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A 25-year-old woman was found dead in her car at 07:30 Saturday 26 November, in a field between Le Lieux and Le Sentier, next to the cantonal road in the hamlet of Hameau de Combe Noir on the northwest side of Lac du Joux. Her car had rolled several times after she apparently swerved hard and went off the highway. The woman, who was Swiss, was driving a car with French plates.
The highway was closed Saturday for the investigation; police are still seeking to learn why she abruptly swerved.
Swiss soldiers travel on Swiss trains for free when on duty (photo: Morges station, November 2011)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The 2012 train schedule that goes into effect 11 December will offer travellers better connections for trips abroad. Some parts of the Lake Geneva region will also see improvements. But the best news for many working travellers is that mobile connections are being improved, as is the online sales service.
The CFF rail company presented highlights of the new schedule to the press Thursday 17 November.
You’ll be able to plug in and connect better in 2012
All the new trains will have electric plugs and existing intercity trains will also get them. “All the new Duplex trains on the intercity trains will be equipped with WLAN,” says Jeannine Pilloud.
A major improvement could be the installation of equipment that amplifies signals received inside and outside the train cars, giving better access to the cell phone and Internet network.
1.8 million cell phone tickets ordered and number growing
The CFF app for ordering online tickets via cell phone is proving popular, with 1.8 million users since it was introduced in 2010, and the number is growing steadily, says the rail company.
Users of the small pocket timetables will find that some of the international ones are disappearing, in favour of online information, and that smaller stations’ stops are no longer listed, but are incorporated into regional listings. All details will be available online, however.
French-speaking Switzerland, especially commuters, to see significant improvements
A host of changes for trains in the Lake Geneva region will have a significant impact:
More double-decker trains will be used on the Geneva airport/Lucerne line, offering more seats
An additional InterRegio train will run between Neuchatel and Lausanne at 07:53 and the Neuchatel/La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle line will have additional service during rush hour and a pair of trains is being added to the Neuchatel to Bienne line
Canton Vaud: the S4 line is being extended from Morges to Allaman, stopping in Saint Prex and Etoy, which will now have trains every 30 minutes instead of once an hour, Monday to Friday.
Geneva: La Plaine/Geneva, more trains will run during rush hour. Coppet–Geneva–Lancy-Pont-Rouge trains, the 30-minute schedule is being extended for weekend night and trains will run every half hour on Fridays and Saturdays until the end of the day.
New international connections, travel time cut on major links
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The politicians, and there were many of them, at the groundbreaking ceremony for Ceva, the new French-Swiss regional rail system, made much of the historic importance of the moment. The ceremony Tuesday morning 15 November comes 100 years after Switzerland and Geneva signed an agreement to undertake the financing of a rail project that would link the city to the French rail system. At that point discussions had already been underway for some 60 years.
The Tuesday ceremony marks the end of years of effort to overcome political hurdles and opposition in order to treat the border area as one region, for transport purposes.
Source: Ceva (click on image to view larger)
The kickoff for the CHF1.57 billion Ceva project signals the start of a number of related rail projects for the Lake Geneva region, noted Federal Councilor Doris Leuthard in a speech.
She noted that the federal government recognizes the rapid growth of the region and the desire for an expanded public transport system that will better link cantons Vaud and Geneva.
A side benefit of the project will be the construction of 1,000 new housing units near the line, in La Praille, Eaux-Vives and Chêne-Bourg.
Construction will start at the end of January 2012. Ceva will link Gare Cornavin in Geneva to Annemasse via a 16km long rail line, 14km of which is in Switzerland, with five stations: Lancy–Pont-Rouge, Carouge–Bachet, Champel–Hôpital, Genève–Eaux-Vives and Chêne-Bourg. Most of the line will be underground, with two tunnels and several covered sections. Two bridges, one over the Arve and the other over teh Seymaz, are part of the project.
The end result of the six-year construction project will be to link the French SNCF rail system with the Swiss CFF, creating a true RER, or regional transport system.
The Swiss federal government is financing 55.47 percent of the project, canton Geneva 44.53 percent.
Negotiations are still underway with the French for their part of the line and some parts of the project still face legal battles, but the approval by Geneva voters in 2009 of a part of the money to be spent by the canton enabled the project to move ahead.
Key figures:
- Some 240,000 people live or work within 500 metres of a Ceva station
- Cornavin to Eaux-Vives will take 13 minutes
- 6 trains an hour will link Cornavin to Annemasse.
LAUSANNE / NYON, SWITZERLAND – Novartis plans to close its centre in Prangins, next to Nyon, have sparked protests by employees since the news was announced 27 October, and a new protest is planned in Nyon Friday afternoon. The company now says it sending in an expert from the US next week to explain an audit that figured in its decision. Some 350 people are employed in the company’s Prangins operations.
The Vaud cantonal council voted Thursday 3 November to back the workers and two top officials met with Novartis and union officials to explore options.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A high speed chase on the A1 autoroute from Gland to Morges at 01:00 Monday 31 October resulted in the arrest of four men from Lyons, France. The group was breaking and entering a shop in Rolle when police were contacted via the 117 number. Several police and highway patrol units were set up and the car, with French plates, was spotted in Gland, heading for the autoroute.
The car was chased by police at speeds up to 150 kph, with the car ignoring police warnings to stop and the driver swerving several times to prevent the police from overtaking. At the Morges Est A1 exit two patrol cars were set up to block their path and the four were caught. The men have admitted to the facts in the case, say police.
Rolle has recently been the site of other robberies, notably jewelry shops.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Police amplified Tuesday evening on earlier vague news of gunshots going off in the small town of Lucens in canton Vaud Monday night 31 October. One man, age 30, from Kosovar and without a known address in Switzerland, was injured when a bullet struck him in the thorax. He was sitting in a car with two other men and the trio got into a dispute with two men who were standing near their apartment in Lucens.
The others are Swiss and Kosovars between the ages of 22 and 34. All have police records.
Shots rang out and the driver of the car was hit but drove off. Emergency services were called and a police patrol intercepted the car, where the two uninjured man were trying to take care of the wounded man as they headed towards Lausanne from Le Broye. The man was hospitalized and the four others placed under provisional arrest at Vaud Police headquarters at La Blecherette2
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Canton Vaud police have arrested three of the main members of a gang of youths, ages 20-25, who have been sabotaging rail lines in the Morges region and dumping apples onto cars from autoroute overpasses.
The group has been active since the spring of 2011, placing heavy objects on CFF anxd BAM rail lines, including rocks and bales of hay. They have worked mainly around Morges, Saint-Prex, Allaman, Etoy and Lonay but also in the Vallée de Joux, where they have set fire to a number of huts and other small buildings including local refuges used by residents for picnics and group parties.
Several police units from the region have worked together to find the culprits, who have put public transport users in “serious danger”, say police, and who have caused more than CHF350,000 in damages. One of the trio arrested is Italian and the other two Swiss; all live in the region.
They were caught when they dumped a load of apples on a police patrol that was checking speeders.
The three are part of a larger group whose composition appears to vary, and police are continuing their investigations to look for other members of the gang.
