Rudolf Elmer wins defamation case against Weltwoche
Weltwoche violated the personal rights of whistleblower Rudolf Elmer in two articles in 2011 and 2012. The corresponding judgment of the Zurich District Court must be published in the print edition and on the Weltwoche website.
In the article "A bad whistleblower" from January 26, 2011, Weltwoche wrote that Elmer had harassed former colleagues and superiors for years with anonymous death threats and insults. A year later, the whistleblower was described as a thief and blackmailer in the article "Honorable Traitors". The court deemed both texts to be defamatory. The NZZ reported on the ruling, which was also made available to the sda news agency, in its Friday edition. The ruling stipulates the text and the size of the titles with which the district court's decision must be published in the print edition and on the Weltwoche homepage. The ruling must be published within ten days of it becoming legally binding. Publication on Weltwoche.ch must take place within 30 days. Rudolf Elmer's civil action was directed against the author Alex Baur, the editor-in-chief Roger Köppel and Weltwoche Verlags AG. Because Elmer was only proved right on part of the charges, he must pay three quarters of the court fees of CHF 8,000. He must also pay the Weltwoche lawyer a "reduced party compensation" of CHF 7,500.
Sentenced to a conditional fine in 2015
The former manager of Bank Julius Baer achieved worldwide fame as a whistleblower in January 2011 when he presented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with two data carriers containing alleged client data of tax evaders in front of cameras at a media conference in London. In January 2015, Elmer was sentenced to a conditional fine by the Zurich District Court for forgery of documents and violation of banking secrecy. He was acquitted on various counts. He wants a full acquittal and took the case to the Zurich High Court. The trial in the second instance is still pending. (SDA)
