RTS journalist convicted of election fraud
Joël Boissard, a journalist for the French-speaking Swiss television station RTS, has been found guilty of election fraud for showing that it is possible to vote twice electronically. He will take the case to the Federal Criminal Court.
After moving to Geneva from neighboring France in March 2015, journalist Joël Boissard received the voting documents for the cantonal referendums twice: once as a Swiss abroad and once as a Geneva resident. The journalist wanted to check whether it would be possible to vote twice. Against all expectations, he succeeded within four minutes. In this way, he discovered an error in the electronic voting system.
Joël Boissard reported the error to the State Chancellery and at the same time announced his report. "I informed them that I could cast my vote twice and I demanded explanations about this anomaly. I also wanted to know if my second vote would be counted or automatically canceled," he explained in "Le Matin Dimanche" on Sunday.
Finally, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland dealt with the affair. The journalist was heard in Bern, and the penalty order was received at the beginning of November. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland sentenced the journalist to a conditional sentence of two daily fines. In addition, he must pay a fine of 400 francs and the costs of the proceedings, as the journalist confirmed to the news agency SDA on Sunday. For the federal prosecutor, it is a deliberate abuse of political rights. He did not take the journalistic mandate into account in reaching his verdict.
Boissard, on the other hand, is convinced that he acted with good knowledge and conscience. He therefore wants to take the case to the Federal Criminal Court. He is also concerned about freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Imprint, the Swiss professional association for journalists, commented on the case in a statement on Sunday: "We consider Joël Boissard's actions to be in the public interest, especially since he himself reported the error to the State Chancellery. Imprint therefore sees the penalty order of the Federal Chancellery as a serious violation of media freedom".
