Former president of the Federal Court Ulrich Meyer.
Keystone-SDA
The former president of the Federal Court has called on two judges to resign after concealing a romantic relationship.
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In an interview with CH Media, Ulrich Meyer said the affair between Yves Donzallaz and Beatrice van de Graaf had allowed the Federal Court to “slide into an institutional crisis with their eyes wide open”.
This requires their immediate resignation or at least their decision not to seek re-election in September 2026, said Meyer. The law expressly prohibits “long-term cohabitation” between members of the Federal Court.
In Meyer’s opinion, the Administrative Commission, a body that oversees the Switzerland’s highest court under the presidency of François Chaix, cannot escape responsibility, regardless of whether it knew about the relationship.
Even an intimate relationship could affect judicial independence and therefore needed to be investigated further, said Meyer.
Meyer did not want to compare his own misdemeanours from his time in office with the hushed-up love affair. Meyer was criticised in 2020 for derogatory comments about a judge at the Federal Criminal Court. His internal comments about that judge were a mistake, he admitted in the interview.
With regard to a previous relationship with a female court clerk at the then Federal Insurance Court in Lucerne, Meyer emphasised that he had acted with complete transparency. He also informed the entire panel of judges when the relationship came to an end, Meyer said.
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Affairs between Swiss federal judges deemed inappropriate
Adapted from German by AI/mga
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