Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss politician resigns after firing shots at Jesus picture

politician
Sanija Ameti has been the co-president of the progressive movement, Operation Libero since 2021, and is a member of the Liberal Green Party in Zurich. Keystone-SDA

Swiss politician Sanija Ameti has resigned from leadership of the Liberal Green Party in Zurich after an uproar over pictures of her firing shots at a Christian motif. On Sunday evening, she deleted photos that had already been published on social media and made an apology.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The youth arm of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party filed a criminal complaint against Ameti for violation of freedom of religion and worship, the party announced on Monday morning. Nicolas Rimoldi, founder of Mass-Voll, a movement formed to protest pandemic measures, also announced that he would press charges.

After Swiss daily Blick reported on the pictures published by Ameti on Instagram on Sunday, it did not take long for the 32-year-old politician to respond to the criticism. She had deleted the pictures after becoming aware of the religious content, she wrote on X and asked for an apology.

Ameti said that she had happened to have an art catalogue with her and had not paid attention to the religious content of the picture.

+ Elections 2023: Swiss parliament shifts to the right

Amid criticism, she resigned from leadership of the Liberal Greens in Zurich. The party is also considering expulsion proceedings, according to a report in Swiss public television SRF. “In the view of the party leadership, Sanija Ameti’s continued membership of the Green Liberals would damage the reputation of the Green Liberals. In order to prevent further damage, the party is requesting that expulsion proceedings be initiated immediately,” the party announced.

Ameti had published pictures showing her with a sports pistol during shooting practice, as well as a picture of Mary and Jesus riddled with gunshots.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

News

11 percent of companies in line with Paris Agreement

More

Only 11% of companies in line with Paris Agreement

This content was published on Only 11 percent of listed companies worldwide are currently operating in line with the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is the conclusion of an analysis by the US financial services provider MSCI.

Read more: Only 11% of companies in line with Paris Agreement
Sicpa to cut up to 120 jobs in the canton of Vaud

More

Security firm Sicpa cuts jobs in western Switzerland

This content was published on Sicpa, a company specialising in security inks, announced on Thursday that it plans to cut up to 120 jobs in canton Vaud, citing a complicated international economic context and geopolitical tensions.

Read more: Security firm Sicpa cuts jobs in western Switzerland

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR