Violation of religious freedom
After shots fired at Jesus image: GLP Switzerland starts exclusion proceedings – Sanija Ameti under police protection after threats
The GLP politician and co-president of Operation Libero took a picture of Mary and Jesus. Now she wants to exclude the GLP Switzerland from the party.
Sanija Ameti is co-president of Operation Libero.
Sanija Ameti has since deleted the pictures on Instagram and apologized for possibly hurting people’s religious feelings. She had riddled a picture of Mary and baby Jesus with a sports pistol from a distance of 10 meters. Ameti is co-president of Operation Libero and sits in the Zurich city parliament for the GLP.
Following the incident, she resigned from the party leadership of the GLP in the canton of Zurich. Zurich GLP co-party president Nora Ernst told TeleZüri: “It was her personal decision. However, we were in contact with Ms. Ameti and suggested that she resign. We welcome her decision.”
But the matter is not over yet. The GLP Switzerland is starting exclusion proceedings against the 32-year-old lawyer. The party applied for this step on Monday to the relevant committees. “The GLP Switzerland would welcome it if Sanija Ameti took responsibility and left the party of her own accord,” the party wrote in a press release. Ameti’s continued stay would damage the party’s reputation. She had hurt countless people with her post. Shooting a picture of Mary and the baby Jesus several times with a firearm does not correspond to the values of the GLP in any way.
The GLP of the city of Zurich will now seek talks with all those affected in the next few days, says co-president Nicolas Cavalli. Sanija Ameti will also be heard. Cavalli distances herself from her post, but also denounces the threats made against Ameti.
The unfortunate post also has consequences on a professional level. According to the Tages-Anzeiger, the PR agency Farner announced on Monday afternoon that Ameti would be leaving the agency. In return, Operation Libero is still supporting her.
Sanija Ameti resigns from GLP leadership – cantonal party welcomes decision.
After threats under police protection
Apparently, Sanija Ameti and her family have now sought police protection following threats. This is reported by the online portal kath.ch on Monday evening. “I’m not feeling well,” Ameti is said to have said by email, saying she doesn’t know how much longer she can endure this.
JSVP files criminal complaint
The shooting exercise also has legal consequences: the Young Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has filed a criminal complaint against Ameti for disturbing freedom of belief and worship, as it announced on Monday. According to the criminal code, this offence is committed by “anyone who publicly and in a mean manner insults or mocks the beliefs of others in matters of faith, in particular belief in God, or desecrates objects of religious worship”.
The bone of contention: the bullet holes in the picture with Jesus and Mary.
JSVP President Niels Fiechter believes that Ameti’s shooting of Mary and Jesus violated the freedom of belief and worship of millions of Christians. Mary and Jesus are to be seen as leading figures of the Christian religion. Fiechter has already committed a crime himself. The Federal Court convicted him in 2022 of violating anti-discrimination law. It concerned a poster about transit places for foreign travelers.
Nils Fiechter, President of the Young SVP Switzerland.
Ameti caused a lot of outrage on social media with her idiosyncratic targeting. On the portal kath.ch, Jesuit Franz-Xaver Hiestand appealed to the conscience of the face of Operation LiberoHer Instagram post reveals a shocking ignorance of the meaning of religious symbols. And: “She and the environment that makes such posts, such excesses possible, deserve a decisive response on various levels.”
Finally, on Monday evening, the Swiss bishops also publicly expressed “their deep disapproval”. Like many Catholics, they also felt their religious sensibilities had been violated, they said. The bishops also thanked Sanija Ameti for asking the Catholic community for forgiveness in a letter to the Bishop of Chur, Joseph Bonnemain.
