Human trafficking case in Geneva: recusal request denied  

The court's remarks were described as "clumsy" but not such as to "establish on its part an appearance of prejudice towards the plaintiffs". KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE/ VALENTIN FLAURAUD

The four members of the wealthy Indian Hinduja family on trial in Geneva for human trafficking have suffered a setback at the Federal Court.   

Their request for the recusal of the ‘tribunal correctionnel’ judges who were to try them was rejected in a ruling published on Wednesday.  

Kamal, Prakash, Ajay and Namrata Hinduja accused the court of having had an exchange, via the judiciary press service, with an accredited journalist and of having told him that their trial, initially scheduled for October 2023, had been postponed to a later date.  

They considered this to be a breach of the impartiality, independence and integrity required of a court of law.

The plaintiffs also said that, initially, they had been told that the court had not “communicated any information to the media either directly or through the communications department”. In their view, this response was “deliberately contrary to the truth”.  

In its ruling, the Federal Court noted that, although the court had had contact with the press through the communications department, it could not be said that the court had lied to them.  

In the view of the Mon Repos judges, the court’s remarks could at most be described as “clumsy” but not such as to “establish on its part an appearance of prejudice towards the plaintiffs”.  

‘Parallel dossier’

The plaintiffs expressed astonishment that management of the proceedings had not included in the dossier “the exchanges between the court, the communication department and the press, and had thus constituted a parallel dossier”. In the view of the Federal Court, this “allegation” was not based on any “objective element”.

The plaintiffs received a copy of the disputed exchanges and “exchanges between a judicial authority and a communications service may constitute a dossier for that service, without necessarily having to be included in the substantive dossier of the judicial authority”, the court’s ruling said.  

Moreover, the facts and the documents produced in no way indicated that the court transmitted, “in particular to the journalist who contacted the communication service on September 29, 2023, the reasons that led to the adjournment of the trial”, nor did he comment on the outcome of the proceedings.  

The trial of Kamal, Prakash, Ajay and Namrata Hinduja began on Monday in Geneva with a number of preliminary questions argued by the defence lawyers, some of whom are asking for the proceedings to be referred to the public prosecutor. The defendants could be questioned at a hearing scheduled for June. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp/amva 

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