Verdict against SoBli editor overturned

On Thursday, the Military Court of Cassation in Solothurn overturned the verdict against a SonntagsBlick editor and referred it back to the lower court. However, the guilty verdict was confirmed. On June 7, 2005, the Military Court of Appeal had sentenced the journalist to six months conditionally for violating military secrets. The defendant is accused of publishing images and information about a classified air force facility in Buochs NW - which is subject to military secrecy - in 2003. The chairman of the military cassation court, Colonel Theo Bopp, found the verdict of the lower court to be blatant and untenable, reports the SDA news agency. He is of the opinion that the reassessment should be within the framework of the first-instance judgment. On December 3, 2004, the military court handed down a ten-day conditional sentence, which was contested by the journalist and the prosecutor. Auditor Michael Nonn had originally demanded 45 days. Meanwhile, the media trade union Comedia has described the latest developments as scandalous: the trial and the sentence are in themselves hostile to the media and unworthy of a modern information society. In addition, the media must be able to publish questionable events in the public interest.