To the point: What's the point?
Last fall, retiree Peter K. kept the entire city of Biel on edge for nine days. He resisted a forced eviction and barricaded himself inside his home, armed.
During his escape, he allegedly shot at a police officer and critically injured him. After a three-day escape, he was arrested.
The story filled the Swiss newspaper columns. K. was known as an uncomfortable contemporary and apparently covered the authorities with his letters for years. Since his arrest, he has been in pre-trial detention. After his arrest, it became clear that in the run-up to the action, the flow of information between the various authorities was not optimal.
Now, nine months later, Le Matin publishes a written interview with Peter K., more than 15,000 characters long, in which he answers the questions posed precisely, but at the same time also extremely verbosely. He shows himself to be a convinced old-68er with an irrepressible rage against the state and its exponents. The interview was accompanied by a commentary by the deputy editor-in-chief.
Logically, the interview was immediately picked up by the other media. 20min.ch and Blick.ch brought a summary (Blick.ch with full naming), Tagesanzeiger.ch a full translation with full naming. Whether Peter K.'s answers are plausible or not should be answered by psychiatrists, whether he is guilty or innocent by the courts. That is not the issue here. I was simply wondering what this interview was about in the first place. Does it shed light on what is probably a very tragic affair? Does it only serve the desire for sensation? Or are the media perhaps even being manipulated here? I don't know. Hopefully, certain aspects of K.'s statements will be examined by the media and investigated further.
An unpleasant point are once again the comments of the readers. 65 were at Lematin. ch, more than 180 at 20min.ch., more than 40 at Tagesanzeiger.ch (as of Wednesday afternoon). As usual, there were some contributions with interesting ideas, but the majority of comments were - to put it mildly - subterranean. Either the writers uncritically support the accusations of Peter K. and bash the state, its exponents and society. Or they call for law and order just as uncritically. Certain comments send shivers down your spine: Woe betide when they are let loose.
