10. CHAPTER A MID-TIME ASSESSMENT On July 2, 1992 I found it useful to submit to the Cantonal Parliament following "ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT against District Courts Cantonal Insurance Court Cantonal Supreme Court of Canton of Solothurn Ladies and Gentlemen, In application of article 76.1 of cantonal Constitution which grants the cantonal Parliament the right to control the activities of the administration of Justice, of article 4 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees the equality of all persons before the Law, and also of article 6.1 of the European Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees the right of all persons to a fair trial within reasonable delays I take the liberty to present following FORMAL REQUESTS: 1.Following cases are to be examined as to their legal contents in application of Articles 6.1 EDHR, 4 SFC, 2, 3, 4, 8 Civil Code and also 42 Code of Obligations. 2. Should the investigation bring about some results: 3.A thorough investigation of all aspects of the administration of Justice in this Canton, and an examination of the professional and human qualifications of all judges in all judicial instances and at all levels is to be ordered. In Formal Respect The following cases, still hanging or already closed show such a high number of examples of arbitrariness, denial
of justice and erratic methods of work that it can be spoken of a policy of intimidation and oppression of the Courts toward the ordinary people. In Material Respect The cases are to be presented as concisely as possible. the size of the file will be indicated, as well as the beginning and the closing dates. Excerpts from the case are to be cited, sufficient to make the description understandable. The plaintiff and the complete files are of course at the unlimited disposal of the Parliament." There followed the short description of the cases described in this report, and also the case of a man who had ordered a banquet and enjoyed it and could not pay. He had ordered the banquet in the full knowledge that he could not pay, a typical case of fraud. The embezzled sum amounted to Fr. 1.200,00 . In the course of the trial it turned out that the man had embezzled some Fr. 20.500,00. In the course of a discussion with an official of the local Office for Debts Collection and Bankruptcy the sum had been revised upward: This good man had made bad debts to the amount of Fr. 38.000,00. The guy had been sentenced in District Court to seven days in jail, sentence suspended during two years. As incentive so to say. Another file concerned our first bar lady, who had made scandal and refused to leave the premises on her last day at work. A case of disorderly conduct also, with two police officers as witnesses. The purpose of the scandal was to render impossible a proper final statement of her activities and to inflict us a financial damage. The lady had been acquitted by the Court. This administrative conclusions:
complaint
ended
with
following
"All those cases are very different from one another, and yet we find the same elements running like so many red threads through each of them:
The first remark is that the moderate tone, the natural decency of the ordinary citizen, a person's good will only bring trouble and humiliation. Only through brutality and threats towards public officials is there anything to be gained: In the case of Zemzem Cumali (the affair with the labor permit) a severe blame was sufficient. In the case of the license fees it already takes a .38 cal. round of ammunition. The next step along this line is logically murder and assassination, the upcoming of "Libanese" or "Yugoslav" conditions. The Authorities do everything in their power in order to churn hatred between Swiss citizens and foreigners: This guy Ă–eztĂźrk was a real bum, a parasite. For this reason he was enjoying the unlimited protection of the Authorities. In the course of the last years we have employed many refugees, many intelligent, nice and willing people who to a man have been deported from Switzerland (The phenomenon can be observed throughout the nation: The Kurds in Obwalden and in Tavannes BE, the Congolese University professors Musey and Masa in Lausanne got kicked out of the country whilst the drug scene at ZĂœrich's Needle Park and elsewhere in the country is definitely being controlled by Turkish, Lebanese and Yugoslaw fake refugees.) The Justice officials do not feel bound to any law: Main proceedings are lowered to a farce, requests, testimonies and means of proof are being handled arbitrarily. The Justice officials are systematically promoting lies and deceit. The HOTELA as well as the Richard cases very well illustrate the point. This administrative complaint is in no way unique, but rather banal: The Swiss Federal Supreme Court handled some 1.500 cases yearly in the fifties, now they are handling some 4.500 cases yearly, with an upward trend.
Little Switzerland with 6,7 millions inhabitants finds itself on third or fourth position for the number of requests before the European Commission for Human Rights in Strasbourg. This rise is largely due to the vastly improved level of information and schooling of the population at large, coupled with the total degeneration of the administration of Justice. The legal system of a country is the conscience of just that country. And whenever that legal system caves in we all can clear off and make ready for civil strife. The charge of judge requires a high level of intelligence, outstanding morals, any amount of intestinal fortitude and above all an unusual knowledge of people and things. The offices are in reality filled with political hacks, who have been through the sheer chance of possessing the "right" party booklet promoted to the charge of paragraph riders. With perfect consideration, J.C. Simonin" At the end, somewhat theatrically, a poem of Bertold Brecht: "Last month, in the town nearby, they have arrested a man But never mind, it was just a Communist Last week, in the nearby block, they have arrested a man But never mind, it was just a Jew Yesterday, in the neighboring house, they have arrested a man But never mind, it was just a queer Today I got arrested Dated September reply: Dear Mr. Simonin,
9,
1992
there
came
the
Parliament's
Through a request dated July 2, 1992 you reached an administrative complaint against various Solothurn Justice instances. You essentially assert that there is such a high level of arbitrary, denial of Justice and erratic administration of Justice that it is opportune to speak of a policy of intimidation and oppression of the legal instances toward the ordinary people. By way of documentation you have submitted various excerpts from legal cases in which you were or are still involved. You request an examination of the cases as to their legitimacy, and you request an investigation with regard to the administration of Justice in this canton, should the examination of the cases bring about some results. II The cantonal Parliament is not an organ of legal redress with regard to the cantonal administration of Justice. For this reason your request can only be accepted as a piece of legal information. III The charges formulated against various legal instances concern their conduct in definite, partly still hanging proceedings. Irregularity in the form of proceedings, including denial of justice or unjustly delayed procedures are - insofar as they exist - legal flaws which can be duly submitted to the next legal instance within the means provided by the law. The separation of powers is a central principle of the Swiss understanding of a constitutional State. If Justice is to fulfill its duty its independence has to be guaranteed. It cannot be the aim of Parliament to take advantage of its right of overall control of the judiciary in order to subvert the principle of separation of powers. For this reason the cantonal Parliament is not in a position to examine the concrete cases with regards to their legal validity. Besides you had the opportunity to present your legal claim to the proper legal instances. It can be said that the power of investigation of the Justice administration is definitely greater than that of the Cantonal Parliament. The Justice administration is provided with extensive competency, while the Cantonal Parliament's competency is on account of the separation of powers
limited to a formal, political control which excludes the examination of particular Court judgments. In conclusion this administrative complaint cannot be taken into consideration since there are no indications that the Courts have conspicuously violated the law. For this reason an intervention of the Cantonal Parliament cannot be justified, especially since the yearly reports of the various Justice instances are subjected to an examination. To that extent the activities of the justice instances are regularly checked by the cantonal Parliament. Therefore it has been decided: The administrative complaint is not to be given suit. In the name of Cantonal Parliament: The President The Secretary illegible illegible I had prepared some wonderful polemics about the Parliament's response. I shall not put it down to paper. I could have tried it with irony or with pathos . But this book has been conceived and written as a report, and is just provided with some additions of which I hope that they can be of some interest to the reader. At the end of November 1992 I also received a little letter from the Office for Trade and Commerce : Dear Mr. Simonin , As you can read from the State Chancery's notice, your request has been entrusted to our Office. The final reply to your letter is as follows: 1. The Taxation Court's sentence is known to us; as could be expected it is in our favor. You may feel free to find "interesting points" in it. We see it differently. 2. About the questions which you are raising enough has been written. You have repeatedly addressed your petitions to Administrative Court and to Taxation Court.
We can't see that the Office for Trade and Commerce owes you one more statement. 3. You have even admitted the calculation and the amount of the license fee for your establishment. Therefore you owe said amount to the Canton of Solothurn. We therefore definitely recommend you to pay the bill. Otherwise you make for yourself, for us and for other unnecessary work. You should rather use your energy to participate constructively to the revision of the Catering Law. With
friendly greetings Office for Trade and
Commerce
Chief Legal Counsel Dr. F. Burki How nice that the good Mr. Dr. Burki reminds me that I owe Fr. 800,00 to the Canton of Solothurn. I had sworn that I would not pay this license fee before my requests had been duly treated by a competent Court of Law. And I had even underlined this decision with a .38 cal. round of ammunition in the copy to the head of the Office for Trade and Commerce. But as I was so elegantly reminded of my debt toward the State I felt deeply moved. My conscience began to torture me. And it is with a deep feeling of contrition that I went to the Post Office and bought 800 one franc coins, took them out of their paper sheet and into a solid paper box, along with a nice word to the head of said Office: "My dear Rudi", so I wrote, "My dear Rudi, after I have received a sign of life from your Office my heart has been relieved from all this weight. Yours forever, Jean Claude And so, I think, has the last proof been administered that any reasonable contact with a public official, especially with a judge or the head of an Office is a thing of sheer impossibility for an ordinary citizen. The
interpretation of the Catering Law has been throughout the country and in all those years entrusted to the Chief officials. And their interpretation of the law has been during all that time arbitrary and arrogant and has led to the pauperization of a whole branch of the Swiss economy. We are now at the beginning of 1993. Since August 1992 we are left in peace by the legal instances and by HOTELA. This peace has been acquired at the cost of a serious murder threat. My beloved country, may your sleep remain deep and filled with sweet dreams.