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Swiss authorities file criminal complaint for false signatures

Federal Chancellery files criminal complaint for false signatures
Federal Chancellery files criminal complaint for false signatures Keystone-SDA

The case of allegedly forged signatures for popular initiatives in Switzerland continues: the Federal Chancellery has filed a criminal complaint for the third time. This time it concerns around 21,000 allegedly forged signatures for five different popular initiatives.

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The criminal complaint against persons unknown on suspicion of electoral fraud was submitted to the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland on Monday, the Federal Chancellery said on Tuesday. It had already filed criminal charges in 2022 and 2024 on suspicion of forging signatures for popular initiatives.

+ Swiss prosecutors probe alleged electoral fraud scam

According to the latest press release, this concerns around 21,000 signatures on lists for five different popular initiatives at different stages of the process, most of which have already been declared invalid by the municipalities and have not been certified.

For the first time, the criminal complaint also includes a small number of suspected cases that various municipalities have reported to the Federal Chancellery as part of the nationwide monitoring process.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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