"Election fraud" to be tried in federal court
Following the conviction of journalist Joël Boissard by the Federal Criminal Court on April 3 for election fraud, the French-speaking Swiss radio and television station RTS has decided to appeal to the Federal Supreme Court. Imprint supports the appeal.
The Federal Criminal Court had issued a detailed decision in the case of the journalist who had managed to vote twice after receiving the documents for electronic voting twice after moving. The court had held that it was neither necessary nor expedient for the journalist to exercise his right to vote twice in order to prepare a report. For this reason, he was found guilty of electoral fraud (Werbewoche.ch reported).
RTS filed an appeal against this decision on May 19. RTS justifies the referral to the Federal Court on the one hand with the fact that Art. 282 of the Criminal Code has been violated, since the journalist never had the intention to exercise his political rights in an unlawful manner. He had acted in his function as a journalist in the public interest and in the exercise of the right to information, according to RTS.
The complaint also alleges a manifestly incorrect determination of the facts and also relies on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). According to the complainant, Article 10 of the ECHR has been violated. The case law on this provision emphasizes the essential role of the media for democratic society and the function of the media as the "watchdog of democracy". According to the complaint, the reportage had allowed the public to be adequately alerted to an important error that could potentially distort the representation of the public will. The reportage thus fulfilled this watchdog function.
Also, the double vote had been necessary for the research, especially since it formed the starting point for the reportage. The Federal Criminal Court assumes that the journalists can count on the full cooperation of the authorities and can trust them. However, RTS emphasizes, an investigative journalist cannot be expected to rely on media releases and press conferences by the authorities without completely failing in his mission.
"The decision of the Federal Criminal Court is dangerous for investigative journalism," writes the professional association Impressum in a report on Friday. Imprint agrees with the complainants that the Federal Criminal Court's assessment runs counter to the ECHR and is convinced that the Federal Supreme Court, which has now been called upon, will correct this misjudgment. If, contrary to expectations, this does not happen, Impressum will support the journalists concerned and RTS in their appeal to the European Court of Human Rights with all available means, the report continues.
