Stories making the Swiss Sunday papers

Subject of a sexist rap song: Swiss parliamentarian Natalie Rickli © KEYSTONE / PETER SCHNEIDER

Stolen data, preventable deaths, Egyptian assets and convicted rappers are all making headlines in Switzerland this Sunday. 

Sensitive files still at large

Hundreds of stolen government records are missing without a trace, reports the SonntagsZeitung newspaper following a Swiss Federal Court verdict. In 2012, a computer scientist copied 23,419 files from the Federal Intelligence Service’s internal security network – as observed by monitoring software that noted the data being copied onto external memory sticks or drives. Up until now, 22,877 of the sensitive records have been retrieved – leaving 542 unaccounted for. According to the verdict, the copied data has to do with ransom demands and nuclear negotiations with Iran. Parliament’s secret service supervisory committee will discuss the issue at an upcoming meeting. 

Preventable deaths?

Swiss hospitals could prevent 1,200 deaths a year, reports newspaper Le Matin Dimanche. The deaths in question are linked to undesirable side effects following treatments – but not to complications or disease progression, as Lausanne University Hospital director Oliver Peter told the newspaper. Some 12% of patients in Switzerland are affected, according to a first-time study putting Swiss hospitals on a par with other nations. 

Mubarak money

Swiss proceedings regarding blocked funds linked to Egyptian ex-president Hosni Mubarak are at a dead end now the Office of the Attorney General has decided to cease providing legal aid for pending requests from Egypt, report the newspapers Zentralschweiz am Sonntag and Ostschweiz am Sonntag. Yet at the same time, Egypt is to receive insight into the Swiss criminal procedure. According to the newspapers, these decisions mean that the attorney general is wrapping up its six-year investigation. The criminal investigations currently involve six persons from the Mubarak entourage and CHF430 million ($446 million). 

Rappers found guilty

A regional court has convicted five Bernese hip hop artists for insulting Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian Natalie Rickli, reports newspaper SonntagsBlick. The so-called Chaostruppe had composed a song about the Zurich-based politician, calling her rude names and suggesting that she perform oral sex. Rickli filed a criminal complaint last year. This past February, Bern’s attorney general issued a penalty order against the rappers for slander, abuse and sexual harassment. In court this past week, the five men apologized and were found guilty of abuse and fined a few hundred francs. The slander and harassment charges were dropped.