The ''Fichenaffäre'' or Secret files scandal shook
public opinion
Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them.
In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...
in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
in 1989. That year, it was revealed that the Swiss federal authorities, as well as the
cantonal
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the Federated state, member states of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the form of the first three confederate allies used to be referred to as the . Two important ...
police forces, had put in place a system of
mass surveillance
Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by Local government, local and federal governments or intell ...
of the population.
The scandal
Following allegations that within the
Federal Department of Justice and Police
The Federal Department of Justice and Police (, , , ) is one of the seven Ministry (government department), departments of the Switzerland, Swiss federal government, and is equivalent to a ministry of justice in other countries. As of 2024, it ...
(EJPD), the ''Bundespolizei'' (BUPO, now
Swiss Federal Police) charged with domestic intelligence was illegally keeping secret files on both Swiss citizens and foreigners, a special parliamentary commission (PUK EJPD) was established. It gave its report in November 1989, demonstrating that the BUPO had kept more than 900,000 files in secret archives.
[The British Secret Service in Neutral Switzerland]
, Daniele Ganser, in ''Intelligence and National Security
''Intelligence and National Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal focused on the role of intelligence in international relations and politics. The journal was established in 1986 by Christopher Andrew and Michael I. Handel as the first ...
'', Vol. 20, nº 4, December 2005, pp. 553–80 (p. 557). Files targeted
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
an nationals, but also Swiss citizens, organizations, firms, and various political groups, mostly on the left.
The scandal led to the reorganization of the BUPO, which since 1992 has been observed by a delegation of a Parliamentary Commission.
Second commission and discovery of P-26
Furthermore, similar allegations concerning the
Defence Ministry
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...
and its UNA department (''
Untertruppe Nachrichtendienst und Abwehr'') emerged, to the effect that they too were storing files. The Defence Department denied these charges, but a new parliamentary commission (PUK EMD) was formed in March 1990, under the direction of Senator
Carlo Schmid, with the task of investigating the Defence Department. In November 1990, this second commission confirmed the existence of secret, illegal files, as well as revealing the existence of
P-26, a secret
stay-behind
A stay-behind operation is one where a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case of a later enemy occupation. The stay-behind operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, and act as ...
army, and a secret intelligence gathering unit called
P-27, both hidden in the Swiss military secret service UNA.
[ Only a month before, the Italian prime minister ]Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti ( ; ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and wikt:statesman, statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992), and was leader of th ...
had revealed the existence of Gladio
Operation Gladio was the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU; founded in 1948), and subsequently by NATO (formed in 1949) and by the CIA (established in 1947), in c ...
, a NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
stay-behind network in all European countries.
Transfer of files
The police files themselves were transferred to the Swiss Federal Archives
The Swiss Federal Archives (, , , ) are the national archives of Switzerland. Additionally, the cantons have official archives of their own. The building and its collections are a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
In 2018 the archiv ...
. A jurist, René Bacher, was designated "special officer" to take care of the political scandal. 300,000 people requested to see their files following the revelation of their existence.Les services de renseignements suisses
, p. 27. The records are open to public access for historical research when the last entry is older than fifty years. More recent records may be open on request. Records on living people are closed to public access for reasons of confidentiality.
2005 trial
Left-wing activists had been the object of surveillance by Swiss authorities since the 20th century. In 2005, a Swiss trade-unionist indicted for having blocked public transport in
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
was surprised to see that the police files contained all of his activities since 1965, although he had never been indicted before. The court had asked the police for his file. Rémy Pagani, also a member of the ''
Syndicat des services publics'' (SSP, Public Services Trade-Union) and MP for the ''
Alliance de gauche
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
'' (Left-wing coalition, a party based in Geneva), confirmed during the same trial that the file listed his presence in demonstrations where he had not been arrested, as well as his participation in the occupation of a building in support of
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
, although he had not been arrested for this act either.
[L'inculpation des syndicalistes fait resurgir les fiches]
, ''Le Courrier
(, ) is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Geneva. Founded on 5 January 1868, it was originally supported by the Roman Catholic Church, but has been completely independent since 1996.
History
Founded on 5 January 1868, it w ...
'', March 1, 2005 .
According to Rémy Pagani, Bernard Ziegler, state counsellor in Geneva, had ensured after the files scandal that only those files containing information on crimes for which the citizen had been convicted would be kept. However, the 2005 trial showed that it had not been the case.
[
]
See also
* Card index affair
Card or The Card may refer to:
Common uses
* Plastic cards of various types:
**Bank card
** Credit card
**Debit card
**Payment card
* Playing card, used in games
* Printed circuit board, or card
* Greeting card, given on special occasions
Arts a ...
(national card index database kept by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Switzerland - se
Case of Amman v. Switzerland
at the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
, 16 February 2000
* P-26
* Gladio
Operation Gladio was the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU; founded in 1948), and subsequently by NATO (formed in 1949) and by the CIA (established in 1947), in c ...
* Mass surveillance
Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by Local government, local and federal governments or intell ...
References
Further reading
* JOST Hans Ulrich, VUILLEUMIER Marc, UDRY Charles-André (et al.). ''Cent ans de police politique en Suisse (1889–1989)''. Histoire. Coéd. AEHMO (Association pour l’étude de l’histoire du mouvement ouvrier), Editions d’En Bas, Lausanne
* Engeler, Urs Paul (1990). ''Grosser Bruder Schweiz: wie aus wilden Demokraten überwachte Bürger wurden: die Geschichte der politischen Polizei.'' Weltwoche-ABC-Verlag, Zürich 1990.
External links
Parliamentary motion
from the Member of the Swiss National Council
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
Josef Lang Josef may refer to
*Josef (given name)
*Josef (surname)
* ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film
*Musik Josef
Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura and is the only company in Japan spec ...
on the non-censored publication of the Cornu report (administrative investigation on the relations between P-26 and others similar organizations in Europe)
{{Authority control
Political history of Switzerland
Surveillance scandals
20th century in Switzerland
1989 in Switzerland
1989 in politics
Swiss intelligence agencies