Urs Paul Engeler acquitted in dispute with Romansh speakers
Weltwoche journalist Urs Paul Engeler was acquitted of racism charges in a Bern court on Friday. The controversy stemmed from an allegedly discriminatory article published on September 14, 2006, about the Romansh people.
Weltwoche journalist Urs Paul Engeler was acquitted of charges of racism in court in Bern on Friday. The bone of contention was an allegedly discriminatory article from September 14, 2006 about the Rhaeto-Romanic people, which dealt with subsidies. A section of the Lia Rumantscha filed a criminal complaint on the grounds that the article was racist. Engeler has now been acquitted because he did not write the incriminated text passages himself. Engeler had already stated at an initial hearing in December that the controversial text passage in the lead was written by the production department at the time and not by him. His original lead had read differently. Clarifications have since shown that Engeler's statements were correct, said the single judge on Friday in his ruling. The journalist should therefore be acquitted. Engeler was awarded compensation of CHF 2,500 by the court.
With this ruling, it remains to be seen whether the controversial passages could be racist. Adjectives such as blackmailing, fanatical and predatory are associated with the Rhaeto-Romanic people. The current issue of Weltwoche states that the adjective "predatory" is an allusion to Schiller's play "The Robbers", where in the second act the "Graubünden region" is described as the "Athens of crooks".
Following this ruling, two further proceedings against Weltwoche are still pending, as can be seen in the current Weltwoche. One case is based on an article from autumn 2006 and concerns statements made by a history professor about the massacre of Armenians in 1915/1916. Another case concerns two Albanians whom former Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher described as "criminals" in a speech. He later explained that he had meant "suspected criminals". Weltwoche showed pictures of the two men, which is now the subject of the proceedings.
With this ruling, it remains to be seen whether the controversial passages could be racist. Adjectives such as blackmailing, fanatical and predatory are associated with the Rhaeto-Romanic people. The current issue of Weltwoche states that the adjective "predatory" is an allusion to Schiller's play "The Robbers", where in the second act the "Graubünden region" is described as the "Athens of crooks".
Following this ruling, two further proceedings against Weltwoche are still pending, as can be seen in the current Weltwoche. One case is based on an article from autumn 2006 and concerns statements made by a history professor about the massacre of Armenians in 1915/1916. Another case concerns two Albanians whom former Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher described as "criminals" in a speech. He later explained that he had meant "suspected criminals". Weltwoche showed pictures of the two men, which is now the subject of the proceedings.
