Press Council reprimands L'illustré
The Swiss Press Council has partially upheld a complaint against the magazine L'illustré. Prior to the start of Erwin Sperisen's trial, the magazine had visited the mother of a murdered prisoner in Guatemala and violated her privacy.
Sperisen had been accused of ordering the murder of several prisoners as a former Guatemalan police chief. In June, he was finally sentenced to life imprisonment by the Geneva Criminal Court. At the start of the trial, a Report of the L'illustré caused a sensation. According to the article, the only plaintiff in the trial, the 70-year-old mother of a slain inmate, knew nothing about the trial in Geneva. She also stated that she did not even know her lawyer. The report gave the mother's full name. It also contained two photos of the woman and rather precise information about her whereabouts. The Press Council therefore received a complaint against the reporting by L'illustré. The magazine had violated several points of the Declaration of the Duties and Rights of Journalists.
Privacy not respected
Among other things, the magazine had used unfair methods and had not respected human dignity. These accusations were rejected by the Press Council in September, as it announced on Tuesday. In one point, however, it approved the complaint: L'illustré had not respected the privacy of the mother. In the case at hand, the interest in protecting privacy should have been given higher priority than the public's interest in an identifying report. Therefore, the publication of photos and information on the whereabouts as well as the naming should have been waived, the press council states. (SDA)
