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In Geneva, two threatened witnesses were denied protection. You criticize the Attorney General.
“The perpetrator said he belonged to the mafia. He, his friends and relatives are threatening to kill me.” Mohammed Hamdi has been living in fear since he helped the Geneva justice system. The story goes back to March 13, 2017. At that time, three armed gangsters kidnapped a diamond dealer. They force the man to open his safes. Their loot: diamonds worth at least 15 million francs. Then they disappear without a trace.
The Geneva judiciary therefore publishes a wanted video on YouTube. In fact, the Algerian Mohammed Hamdi reported in Geneva that his neighbor Nabil showed him the video and boasted that he was one of the perpetrators. Nabil A. is arrested in Algeria and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Geneva public prosecutor’s office applied for witness protection for Hamdi as early as 2018. The reasons given in the files available to SRF are as follows: “In view of Nabil A.’s proven dangerousness and because he is able to contact people outside of prison despite his incarceration, (…) I fear for his physical integrity from Mohammed Hamdi and his family.” Mohammed Hamdi, his wife and their two small children are to be brought to Switzerland as soon as the proceedings in Algeria are completed.
Attorney General: Geneva not responsible for protection
Then in 2023, Nabil A.’s uncle attacks Hamdi with a hammer as Hamdi sits in a coffee shop. He blocks the blow and flees. X-rays and a doctor’s report document the injury. And at the beginning of this year, an Algerian police officer warned Hamdi: The perpetrators would take revenge.
The files from the Geneva public prosecutor’s office say: “Objectively: the man has fulfilled his obligations and is at great risk. He deserves the support that the authorities have promised him.”
But Geneva Attorney General Olivier Jornot decides otherwise. Geneva is not responsible for protection because the entire process took place in Algeria. In response to questions about the procedure, Jornot said: The Geneva appeals court has confirmed its decision. Hamdi’s lawyer Romain Jordan is outraged: “My client is not being protected, even though he is being threatened and has been attacked. I find this situation unbearable.”
Not the only case
The Hamdi case is not an isolated case. Already in 2021, Olivier Jornot does not allow protection in another case. In this case, the police had recruited a former bandit as an informant. Thanks to his help, arrests are made. But then the informant has to reveal himself to the French judiciary. The gangsters have wanted to kill him ever since.
Lawyer Jordan complains: “In such serious cases, the duty to protect comes first. A duty of the state, which previously benefited from the testimony. I find it shocking that they would be dropped like that.” In this case too, the Attorney General refuses to comment.