The EU disapproves of Swiss freedom of speech:

has the witch hunt begun? Solidarity with Jacques Baud!

The recent inclusion of a Swiss citizen, former colonel Jacques Baud, on the European Union (EU) sanctions list, based on regulations adopted and extended without any judicial proceedings and in the absence of any criminal offence or proven law violation, is a very serious matter that cannot be downplayed. We are faced with a punitive, arbitrary political act that lacks the fundamental guarantees of the rule of law, targeting not proven crimes but opinions, intellectual analyses and positions considered uncomfortable by the political power in Brussels.

This affair shows how the EU has crossed a red line by directly silencing dissent. The sanctions adopted are not the result of a trial, do not derive from a conviction by an independent court, and do not guarantee the right to defence. These are administrative measures of an openly political nature, applied arbitrarily with opaque and discretionary criteria. The EU is openly violating not only the rule of law but also the principles that the Swiss Federal Constitution unequivocally enshrines: freedom of opinion and information, freedom of belief and conscience, and the protection of fundamental procedural guarantees. We cannot accept that the EU targets a Swiss citizen for his ideas, without trial and without the possibility of a hearing, putting itself on a collision course with Switzerland's historical principles, based on neutrality and respect for civil liberties.

Even more worrying is the precedent that this sets. If today we sanction those who express analyses or opinions that do not align with the dominant narrative, who will be next tomorrow? Journalists, researchers, opposition political activists like us communists, citizens who express criticism? The so-called “freedom of speech”, so often touted in official EU rhetoric, seems to apply only as long as it does not challenge the geopolitical, economic and military interests of the ruling elites. This repressive drift does not strengthen democracy, but empties it of meaning; it does not protect peace, but fuels polarisation and intimidation.

We strongly demand that the Swiss authorities, starting with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, intervene to defend the constitutional rights of our fellow citizens and to reaffirm the legal and democratic sovereignty of the Confederation. Switzerland cannot passively accept that arbitrary decisions taken in Brussels have devastating effects on people's fundamental rights. Not only must citizen Jacques Baud enjoy Swiss consular protection, but the Federal Government must also formally protest to the EU and prevent any Swiss institution (including banks, etc.) from applying, even indirectly, such illegal sanctions against one of our compatriots.

The Communist Party rejects this new witch hunt against political dissent and calls on the people to sign the petition in support of citizen Jacques Baud: https://c.org/YmfHJcZ74M