Reporters without Borders has condemned a Swiss court’s decision to convict a journalist of electoral fraud after he voted twice in order to prove failures in the system. Joël Boissard, who works for Swiss broadcaster RTS, was fined, ordered to pay court costs and given a further suspended fine after being found guilty in early November, according to news agencies. The incident occurred last year when Boissard, who had recently moved house, received two sets of voting documents for federal and cantonal elections on March 8th 2015. Assuming the online system would prevent him from voting twice, he tried to do so – and succeeded. Boissard immediately contacted the electoral authorities to report what he had done and ask them to explain the anomaly, he told news agencies.
Three weeks later, he discovered the authorities had reported him to Geneva’s public prosecutor for electoral fraud.
In making its judgement, the court in Bern decided Boissard had intentionally acted illegally, and did not take into account his job as a journalist, said ATS.
However Boissard argued that he acted in good faith, wanting to simply draw attention to a matter of public interest.
Full Article: Journalist who proved electoral flaws convicted of fraud – The Local.