The Geneva government continues to hunt Maudet

One day, after the Geneva FDP base has just expressed confidence, the Geneva government is taking further consequences in the case of Maudet. In the end he deprives him of the Regional Council, which he had already temporarily surrendered last September. This was announced today by the Geneva executive.

And Pierre Maudet (40) still has to give up more tasks. In his function as head of the security department, he must submit further dossiers. After the areas of justice, police and airport, now is also the sovereignty over prisons, the population and the migration office as well as the Office for Civil and Military Protection underway.

The new distribution of responsibilities should come into force shortly, nor is it necessary to agree with Parliament. The government justified the step, among other things, with the fact that the prosecutor announced last week to extend the procedure against Maudet for taking advantage of it.

The government also accuses Maudet of building a "fabric of lies" and of showing behavior that is "completely unworthy" and undermines the credibility of the office. With the measures taken, we want to ensure that the government can still function in a coherent and efficient manner.

Meanwhile, Pierre Maudet continues the offensive. The Geneva Council of State has asked the trial through its lawyers to withdraw the prosecutors who are conducting the case against him with the charge of taking advantage.

The request for rejection was received Wednesday morning at the prosecutor's office, said the lawyers of Maudet Grégoire Mangeat and Fanny Margairaz. Maudet accuses the public prosecutor of transmitting extracts from the minutes of a hearing to the cantonal government on 9 January. In it, the FDP politician had confessed to behaving in an incompatible way with his office.

According to the defense of the Council of State, the transmission of documents to the cantonal government could constitute an official violation of the secret. This way of thinking is based on a legal opinion by Marc Thommen, a professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zurich. The documents presented are, in his opinion, subject to the secret.

The lawyers of Maudet denounce the transmission of extracts from the hearing during the investigation. They consider it an act of "totally unacceptable institutional violence". According to their knowledge, no request for revocation of the official secret has ever been made.

The criminal proceedings against Maudet are led by the first prosecutor Stéphane Grodecki. He is supported in his activities by the Attorney General of the Canton of Geneva, Olivier Jornot, and by the first prosecutor, Yves Bertossa.

Maudet defense lawyers threaten to take a step forward and require more than a refusal by the relevant prosecutors. They consider transferring the proceeding to another authority, outside the canton or even to the federal prosecutor, as they write in the communiqué. This is the case if the impartiality of the Geneva Prosecutor and the presumption of innocence can no longer be guaranteed in this case. (DPS)