ROG and Syndicom condemn house search
Reporters Without Borders (ROG) and Syndicom are protesting against the action taken by the Neuchâtel judiciary against Le Matin journalist Ludovic Rocchi.
His apartment was searched yesterday, Tuesday, and IT equipment and documents, some of which also belong to Rocchi's wife, were confiscated (Werbewoche.ch reported). The Ticino authorities also confiscated Rocchi's laptop on behalf of the Neuchâtel judiciary, as the journalist is currently working at the Locarno Film Festival. The reason for this action is a complaint for defamation and libel against Rocchi, which was filed by a professor from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Neuchâtel. In 2012, Rocchi had reported for Le Matin on a plagiarism affair at the university in which the professor was allegedly involved, according to the newspaper.
As Reporters Without Borders wrote in a press release on Wednesday, the search of a journalist's private premises is a first for Switzerland. It also shows that the judiciary is prepared to do anything to gain access to a journalist's sources - even if this infringes on the freedom of the press.
"Serious attack on investigative journalism"
In a press release, Syndicom also expressed its concern about the freedom of the press and is outraged by this "serious attack on investigative journalism". Syndicom opposes these "disproportionate measures by the judiciary". For the union, the protection of journalists' sources of information is fundamental. Without this protection, the basis of press freedom is at risk. In a country where investigative journalism is already severely restricted, this search of a journalist's private residence appears to be an unacceptable attempt at intimidation. Although a professor at the University of Neuchâtel had filed a complaint against the journalist, the disproportionate procedure of a search at a journalist's private residence - the first of its kind in Switzerland - was in no way justified.
Comedia, which merged into Syndicom on January 1, 2011, had already defended three Sonntagsblick journalists who had been intimidated in the "secret fax to CIA prisons" affair, according to the press release. In April 2007, they were finally acquitted by a military court and received compensation.
