Abuse of Law

Abuse of law refers to the intentional or systematic use or manipulation of legal means, procedures, or institutions in a way that perverts the true purpose of the law. This involves applying or interpreting the law in a manner that harms another or secures unjust advantages for the abuser, even though the application may appear legally correct.

Forms of Abuse of Law:

Procedural Abuse: The deliberate delay or obstruction of court proceedings through constant filings, appeals, or similar legal tactics to prolong the process or financially and emotionally exhaust the opposing party.
Frivolous Lawsuits (SLAPP): Lawsuits that are not intended to enforce legitimate legal claims but are aimed at intimidating, harassing, or economically ruining the defendant.
Manipulation of Laws: The intentional exploitation of legal loopholes or circumvention of regulations to gain unfair advantages or undermine the rights of others.
Fabrication of Facts: The deliberate presentation of false claims or evidence in a court case to achieve an unjust outcome.

Objectives of Abuse of Law:

Abuse of law can pursue various objectives:

Harm to the Opponent: This can occur both economically (financial losses) and personally (damage to reputation).
Gaining Unlawful Advantage: Exploiting legal means or procedural gaps to enrich oneself or gain a competitive edge.
Delaying or Preventing Justice: Extending a process as long as possible or preventing a fair decision from being made.
Suppression or Intimidation: Using the law to intimidate, control, or prevent others from asserting their legitimate rights.

Impact of Abuse of Law on Individuals:

Abuse of law can have profound effects on individuals:

Psychological Consequences: Affected individuals may suffer from severe stress, anxiety, depression, and a sense of powerlessness. The constant pressure of the abusive situation can lead to serious mental health issues, including a loss of trust in the legal system.
Economic Damages: High legal fees, court costs, and loss of income due to involvement in lengthy legal disputes can be financially devastating for individuals.

Impact of Abuse of Law on Businesses:

Financial Strain: Businesses can suffer significant financial losses due to abuse of law, such as costly and prolonged litigation or the loss of business relationships and reputation.
Reputation Damage: Abuse of law can cause lasting harm to a company’s reputation, especially when allegations are publicly discussed, even if they are ultimately unfounded.
Operational Disruptions: Ongoing legal disputes can hinder a company’s daily operations, leading to productivity losses and a decline in competitiveness.

Psychological Consequences for Affected Individuals:

Loss of Trust: Victims often lose faith in the fairness and effectiveness of the legal system.
Isolation: Prolonged legal battles can cause individuals to withdraw from friends and family, particularly if they feel that no one understands or can support them.
Trauma: In extreme cases, abuse of law can lead to traumatic experiences, especially if the individual is repeatedly treated unjustly.

State Entities Where Abuse of Law Can Occur:

Courts and Judicial Authorities: Judges who abuse their position to deliver unjust rulings or lawyers who manipulate the system to gain an unfair advantage can commit abuse of law.
Administrative Bodies: Officials may engage in abuse of law by selectively applying or failing to apply regulations, particularly if driven by corruption or discrimination.
Police and Security Forces: The deliberate manipulation of evidence or the suppression of investigations to the detriment of specific individuals or groups can also be considered abuse of law.

Possible Motives and Causes for Abuse of Law:

Abuse of Power: Abuse of law can be motivated by the desire to exercise power and control over others, whether through the judiciary, administration, or other state institutions.
Corruption: Abuse of law may also be driven by bribery or financial incentives, particularly when decision-makers are rewarded for their support.
Discrimination: Discrimination based on race, gender, religion, or other characteristics can also be a motive for abuse of law, particularly when certain groups are systematically disadvantaged.
Incompetence or Ignorance: In some cases, abuse of law may arise from a lack of competence or knowledge when actors are not sufficiently qualified to handle legal matters correctly.

Assessment of the Frequency of Incompetence, Ignorance, and Corruption as Causes:

Incompetence and Ignorance: These causes are likely more common in countries or regions with underdeveloped legal systems, poor training, or staff shortages. In such contexts, unintentional forms of abuse of law may occur, which nevertheless cause significant harm.
Corruption: The role of corruption as a cause of abuse of law varies greatly from country to country. In nations with high levels of corruption, the likelihood that abuse of law results from corrupt practices is significantly higher. Here, decisions are often deliberately manipulated to secure personal or political advantages.
Abuse of Power and Discrimination: These motives are frequently observed when individual actors or groups seek to maintain or expand their power or, especially prevalent in Switzerland, when deeply rooted prejudices and societal inequalities are exploited to oppress certain groups.

Conclusion:

Abuse of law poses a serious threat to the integrity of the legal system and can have devastating consequences for both individuals and businesses. The psychological and economic damages caused by abuse of law can be long-lasting and profound. Therefore, it is crucial for state institutions and the legal system as a whole to develop mechanisms to identify and prevent abuse of law. Transparency, education, and a strong commitment to the rule of law are essential tools for minimizing the impact of abuse of law.

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SMALL SWITZERLAND: GAPS IN THE MEDIA COVERAGE

In most of its scandals,

Switzerland proves to be too small,
and its elite too tightly interconnected (due to Switzerland’s small size, everyone is practically on top of each other),

for its media to report independently and objectively. At best, one receives politically tinted reports and reports that blatantly reveal who is good friends with whom. Switzerland is simply too small to be independent in its media reporting.

Swiss Media Landscape: Manageable Political Blocks

The Swiss media landscape is neatly divided into political blocks, with the bourgeois block having the far greatest media reach.

Most media are thoroughly entangled with politics and the economy, and with their particular interests.

This division of the media into political blocks should at least ensure that the different political currents of the country are balanced. One would think that for every scandal, there would be a publication interested in reporting it from the perspective of their political masters. But this is not the case. Switzerland is simply too small: there are too few editorially independent media that would cover everything that is objectively considered a scandal in an independent and neutral manner. Too many Swiss media report selectively and distort reality according to the agenda of their paymasters. And too often, this agenda is a bourgeois one. In these editorial offices, reports about grievances, which at least people with a social value attitude would consider grievances, simply do not fit. Such reports are not of interest. Much more interesting are reports that reflect the vain interests of the bourgeoisie. The same phenomenon occurs, in the opposite direction of course, in the few Swiss media with a left-wing profile.

Coverage of Public Interest through Media Diversity

In a large country with a colorful, diverse media landscape, there would surely be a paper for every politically colored scandal. Right-wing papers are interested in the scandals of the Left and vice versa, the papers of the Left in the scandals of the Rich. Thus, the media landscapes of Western countries once comprehensively covered the public interest with reports from various political viewpoints. In Switzerland, this coverage does not work because the Swiss media landscape is one-sidedly right-leaning and reports in a one-sidedly right-leaning filtered manner. The few remaining editorially independent and left-leaning media lack the capacity to counterbalance the one-sidedness of the Swiss media landscape due to their marginalization. Therefore, reports that would be standard for publication in other countries are often overlooked in Swiss media.

Gaps in the Spectrum

Firstly, Swiss media houses fail to fully cover the political spectrum. Almost all of them revel in the bourgeois, right-wing corner. Secondly, reports on matters that do not clearly align with the agenda of a Swiss media house stand no chance of being published. If neither distinctly bourgeois nor distinctly left-wing media pick up a story, it simply falls through the gaps in the spectrum of Swiss media coverage. And no one is interested. Because no one cares. Why should they?

The Primitive Relationship of Switzerland to the ECHR

Switzerland has signed and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). So far, so good? However, Switzerland has not signed the Additional Protocol to the ECHR that provides effective protection against discrimination. In this regard, Switzerland is in the “good company” of France and the United Kingdom, which also have not signed this protocol. As a result, the scope of discrimination protection under the ECHR for Switzerland is limited to the articles of the ECHR itself. This means that cases of discrimination related to Swiss federal law, cantonal, or municipal laws—which account for the majority of discrimination cases—cannot be brought before the European Court of Human Rights. What would officially be considered a violation of human rights in the sense of discrimination in any civilized European country, cannot, regrettably, be considered “isolated cases” in Switzerland. Rather, discriminatory denials of rights and abuses of law, to name just two examples from the arsenal of discrimination, are commonplace in Switzerland. If the Swiss can afford outright discrimination hunts on minorities, considered regressive in every civilized culture, then we should not hesitate to call Swiss culture primitive by name.