⚖️ Justice

On April 12, 2026, a person accused in proceedings before the Zurich District Governor’s Office (“Statthalteramt Zurich”) filed a complaint against the case officer responsible. The proceedings themselves stretched from March 16, 2021 (date of the initial application) to December 16, 2025 (date of the final decision) — a total of four years and nine months.

For the entirety of this period, the District Governor’s Office, headed by Mathis Klantschi (Green Party), failed to take any discernible procedural action (Art. 6 ECHR; Art. 9 of the Swiss Federal Constitution).

At no point during these four years and nine months the accused person was granted a hearing (Art. 6 ECHR; Art. 9 of the Swiss Federal Constitution).

The accused person recalls: “My initial written request for access to the case files, submitted in March or April 2021, went unanswered. Only after I contacted the District Governor’s Office again in December 2021 with an urgent request did I receive partial copies of the file by post.”

Zurich District Governor’s Office remains unresponsive for years

The Zurich District Governor’s Office failed to respond to submissions made after an initial — and incomplete — access to the case files in December 2021.

Corrections of inaccurate data, submitted by the accused person via registered mail following a second, apparently complete inspection of the files in February 2023 pursuant to §21 IDG ZH, are not addressed in the decision of December 16, 2025. Instead, the decision repeats false information that had been explicitly corrected (Art. 6, 8 ECHR; Art. 9, 13 Federal Constitution).

The Office also did not respond to a registered request submitted in February 2025, in which the accused person sought the return of personal property that had been seized (Art. 26 Federal Constitution; Art. 141 Swiss Criminal Code).

Following receipt of the decision dated December 16, the accused person alleges violations of their right to privacy (Art. 8 ECHR; Art. 13 Federal Constitution), including in particular under Art. 173 and Art. 174 Swiss Criminal Code; violations of their right to a fair trial (Art. 6 ECHR — including the presumption of innocence, the right to be heard, and the right to legal counsel; as well as Art. 9, 29, and 32 Federal Constitution); and violations of their property rights (Art. 26 Federal Constitution; Art. 141 Swiss Criminal Code).

Taken together, these circumstances give rise to an initial suspicion of abuse of office within the meaning of Art. 312 Swiss Criminal Code.

Updates to follow.

Politics:
An advance version of this article (including a redacted copy of the criminal complaint) was provided for information on 4 May 2026 to the following members of the Cantonal Council of Zurich serving on the Commission for the Administration of Justice (JuKo) and the Commission for Justice and Public Security (KJS): Davide Loss (SP, President of JuKo), Roland Scheck (SVP, JuKo), Alexander Seiler (SVP, JuKo), Jeanette Wibmer (The Centre, JuKo), Tamara Fakhreddine (FDP, JuKo), David Garcia Nuñez (AL, KJS), and Andreas Keiser (SVP, KJS). CC was provided to the Zurich Directorate of Justice.

Media:
An advance version of this article (including a redacted copy of the criminal complaint) was provided for information on 4 May 2026 to the following Swiss editorial offices: Republik, WOZ, Tages-Anzeiger, Beobachter, and Blick.

Update (16 May, 2026): By May 16, none of the above entities had replied to the email sent on May 4. 

Public Accountability for the Zurich Governor’s Office (“Statthalteramt Zurich”):