In Sri Lanka: employees of the Swiss embassy sentenced to punishment

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A local employee of the Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka has been fined 5,000 rupees (14 francs) and has to pay 5,000 francs court costs.

The woman was temporarily detained in 2019 for allegedly making false statements about a possible kidnapping. She was later released on bail. The Tamedia newspapers reported on Saturday about the verdict against the employee.

Switzerland bears the costs of the proceedings

The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) confirmed the facts upon request and welcomed the conclusion of the “nearly four-year court case”. Details of the verdict would now be analyzed and a decision would be made on whether further steps should be taken.

At the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency, an EDA spokesperson also stated that Switzerland would bear the CHF 5,000 procedural costs. The EDA declined to comment on the fine.

The case caused an uproar and sparked diplomatic tension between Switzerland and Sri Lanka. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (62) intervened and called his Sri Lankan colleague. Switzerland feared for the rule of law and worker health, it was said at the time. Cassis called for the background of the incident to be clarified quickly.

The Sri Lankan national was charged by the authorities in her home country with, among other things, making false statements in an alleged kidnapping case. According to information from the FDFA in December 2019, the woman had previously stated that she was dragged into a car by strangers in Colombo on November 25 and held against her will so that she would release information from the internal embassy.

Involved in investigations into former president

According to media reports, the woman had been questioned by a Sri Lankan police inspector about the visa at the time. He was involved in investigations into the family of then-president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (74) and fled to Switzerland shortly before.

An official inquiry by the Sri Lankan government has cast doubt on the woman’s statements. The sequence of events and the chronology of the alleged incident did not match the actual movements of the alleged victim that day, the Southeast Asian country’s foreign ministry said at the time.

Source: Blick