Justice Councillor of States Chiesa remains protected from investigations into election campaign

Freedom of expression is important in election campaigns. The responsible parliamentary committees have therefore not waived the immunity of SVP member of the Council of States Marco Chiesa in connection with investigations into an SVP election campaign.

The Bernese judiciary wanted to investigate whether the SVP campaign with the slogan "New normality?" from 2023 violated the anti-discrimination norm. The campaign for the elections in the fall of 2023 denounced criminal acts by asylum seekers with the slogan "New normality".

The Attorney General's Office in Bern therefore requested that the immunity of Chiesa - who was SVP President during the campaign - and also of the then SVP National Councillor and then SVP General Secretary Peter Keller be lifted. Chiesa is still a member of the Council of States; he has since relinquished the party presidency.

However, the Immunity Committee of the National Council (IK-N) has now refused to waive the immunity of the two, in the case of Chiesa by 6 votes to 3 and in the case of Keller by 6 votes to 2 and with one abstention. The campaign's statements were deemed to be part of the free expression and formation of opinion in the context of the democratic election campaign. They must therefore be tolerated.

The decision is final, as the Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of States had previously made the same decision.

SDA