Tariq Ramadan court appeal won’t delay victim compensation

No postponement for compensation payment to victims in Ramadan case Keystone-SDA

Compensation and damages of CHF95,000 for the victims of Tariq Ramadan will not be postponed by the Islamic scholar's appeal against his rape conviction.

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Tariq Ramadan justified the request for suspensive effect for satisfaction and compensation on the grounds that this payment would cause him financial hardship. Since the accusations against him had become public knowledge, he had lost his academic posts and only had a small annual income. He also has two children to support.

In his application, he also stated that he would hardly be able to recover the sum should his appeal against the conviction by the Geneva court be overturned. This is the result of a ruling published by the Federal Supreme Court on Thursday.

+ Read how Switzerland updated its definition of rape

The defendant is an artist’s agent and mother of five children and had applied for free legal aid, Ramadan argued. The sum would probably be used up in the course of the pending proceedings and could hardly be recovered afterwards.

No irreparable damage

The Federal Supreme Court found that Ramadan was putting forward hypotheses without showing that concrete steps had been taken to ensure that he paid the CHF95,000. In particular, he did not claim that such measures were so far advanced as to cause him irreparable damage that would be difficult to repair.

In August, Ramadan was sentenced in the second instance for rape and sexual assault to a partial prison sentence of three years. He is to serve one year of this sentence. He has lodged an appeal against this decision. The Federal Supreme Court has yet to rule on the case itself. (Judgement 6B_816/2024 of 24.10.2024)

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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