The week in Switzerland

Judge Korman approved the settlement but said Swiss companies that used Nazi slave labour must come forward Keystone

An announcement on Wednesday that a New York judge had given his seal of approval to a financial settlement between Swiss banks and Holocaust survivors brought hope that the claimants will soon see some of the money.

Judge Edward Korman approved the terms of the $1.25 billion (SFr2 billion) deal, agreed by Switzerland’s main banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, and lawyers for the survivors. It came nearly two years after the settlement was reached.

The survivors were seeking access to money deposited in Switzerland during the Nazi era, but it’s not clear when the money will be disbursed among about 600,000 claimants.

In his ruling, Korman gave the banks and claimants a week to resolve the outstanding points of the agreement, but said it would then take effect.

The Swiss government, bankers and representatives of Jewish organisations were quick to welcome Korman’s announcement.

There was a conclusion of sorts to Russia’s request for legal assistance from Switzerland. The Swiss authorities handed over a vast hoard of documents to Russian prosecutor, Nikolai Volkov, who is investigating allegations that the business tycoon, Boris Berezovski, defrauded the state airline Aeroflot to the tune of $700 million (SFr1.6 billion), and laundered the money through Switzerland.

On Friday, Volkov returned to Moscow along with about a third of the documents. He said he hoped they would help him make a stronger case against Berezovski, but he added that no decision would be taken before September.

On Thursday, the Swiss Refugee Council appealed to the government to stop the forcible repatriation of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka. The non-governmental organisation expressed fears that Sri Lanka’s civil war could escalate, leading to a drastic deterioration in the human rights situation in the country.

In a report, the council said the military had detained thousands of members of the ethnic Tamil minority in the north of the country, and Tamils in the capital, Colombo, feared pogroms.

Thursday was also the first anniversary of the deaths of 21 people in a canyoning accident near Interlaken. In memory of the victims, relatives attended a memorial service above the Saxet Gorge where they were swept away in a flash flood.

The flood claimed the lives of 14 Australians, one New Zealander, two South Africans, two Swiss and two Britons.

A preliminary investigation into the accident has yet to be concluded. An investigating magistrate is trying to determine whether the management and employees of the canyoning company can be held criminally responsible.

And less than a week before Switzerland’s national day on August 1, a survey shockingly revealed that only three per cent of the Swiss know the words to the national anthem. The survey confirmed the widespread assumption that the national anthem is more popular among the older generation.

The text of the anthem has often been criticised over the past decades. The lyrics are considered pompous, especially in the German language version, and date back to the first half of the 19th century. They once accompanied a religious chant composed by a monk.

Several attempts have been made to create a new anthem, but the latest effort failed last year, when the group behind it went bankrupt.

swissinfo with agencies