The police report contains text to the effect that my changing lawyers three times held up their investigation.
This is utter nonsense. My lawyer has nothing to do with their investigation, and furthermore, the public prosecutor hardly ever bothered to reply to letters from my lawyer. Even when he did, the key questions went unanswered.
In my opinion, the police report is written in such a way as to make excuses to their boss about how unfair it was that I dared to seek legal counsel and defend myself against false murder charges. Surely they cannot be serious?
Effectively, while hiding behind the statement "we will close the murder investigation soon", the police and prosecutor attempted to contact me directly, and bypass my lawyer. Yet, it was almost a year later when they did finally close the case, and only closed it because I sued for loss of earnings. Had I not sued for loss of earnings, they would have dragged this case out for years. In this way, they make the suggestion that my defense costs are not legitimate, because they told me they were closing the case -- once they finished investigating.
Various lawyers tried to sell me out in different ways.
After I had been interrogated for almost 8 hours, and specifically threatened with waterboarding if I didn't let the cops do all the sick things they wanted, the duty lawyer appeared. He stated that he was out of business cards. It could have been anybody. He was being paid for by the police because for crimes such as murder, legal representation is mandatory. There is no getting around the fact that he didn't dare say a damn word to the cops, or object to anything at all, because otherwise they wouldn't call upon his services next time. During our brief audience at 2am, he stated that he was only allowed to listen during my interrogation (during which he appeared to be asleep, it was hard to tell, as he was seated behind me, several meters away inthe corner) and once it was over, he had to leave, and nobody, not even my own lawyer (whom I had ben prevented from seeing), could see me for the next 48 hours. In 48h I would have to be released, or brought before a judge. Incredibly I was entirely at the mercy of the Swiss police for the next 48h, with no recourse for brutality. No phonecall, no consular access. Not even an interpreter. When I tried to object, my "lawyer" took the side of the police, saying "you don't need one, just waive your rights it'll be better for you". Think about that for a minute.
My second lawyer laughed in my face when I said I had been mistreated. My regular lawyer was sick, so another lawyer from his office, a woman, handled my file. She said I could not file a complaint for torture until the police closed the murder investigation. I was completely shocked. She laughed me out of the room. Writing to the public prosecutor, she "forgot" the most important part : getting my computers back. When I pointed this out, she stated "I cannot write another letter. We just have to wait and see". Spineless. Bill was over 2'500 FRS for almost no work at all; nothing useful, in any case.
At this point I wrote to the UN about having been tortured in Swiss police custody. They replied six months later.
My third lawyer was the spokesman for the chief of Valais police when he was caught stealing archeological artifacts in Turkey. I picked him for this reason, with his high profile, he could not be seen to be aiding and abetting police procedural violations. The gamble paid off. He wrote a stern letter and got my computers back, but again he refused to file suit for torture.
He spoke of claiming financial damages, including loss of income. However, he strung me along and after several months quickly changed his position and said I had no case for that, either. I should just give up and go quietly.
At this point I was incensed at the repeated and complete lack of interest by any lawyer in Valais in actually defending my interests. My forth potential lawyer in Vaud (http://www.avocats-ch.ch/index.php?main=avocat&sub=parein) agreed to go after the loss of earnings, but refused to touch the torture allegations. I paid him for his advice and thanked him. If you need a lawyer in Vaud, Maitre Loic Parein is an efficient, straight talking man, and I highly recommend him. He did an excellent job of summarising the situation, but took the view that police violence is impossible to prove.
On my fifth lawyer, recommended by Amnesty International, finally filed suit for torture.
Maitre Pierre Bayenet (http://www.bayenet-mizrahi.ch/) is the go to guy if you have a problem in French speaking Switzerland. Having studied in London, Maitre Bayenet speak flawless english; I cannot recommend this man enough. If you remember "The A-Team", this guy is it.
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