Criminal Complaint Against Cantonal Councillor Mario Cavigelli

In February 2015, the Grand Council of Graubünden declared the special hunt initiative invalid.

During the parliamentary debate, however, important information had been withheld from the council. Cantonal Councillor Mario Cavigelli (CVP)  had failed to disclose that the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in Bern had determined that the initiative didNOT violate superior law.

The Cantonal Councillor thus concealed from the Grand Council the Federal Office for the Environment's (FOEN) conclusion that the special hunt initiative — which had been signed by 11,000 people — was valid.

The special hunt is a problem for the population of Graubünden because it leads to unspeakable barbarity and animal cruelty. In this regard, a second, more principled people's initiative by animal welfare advocates is also underway. However, this too is being sabotaged in an unspeakable manner by the same circles within Mario Cavigelli's department.

Cantonal Councillor Mario Cavigelli had known since 5 January 2015, from a letter from the FOEN, that is, before the initiative was debated in the Grand Council at the February 2015 session, that the initiative did not violate federal law.

In an email from Mario Cavigelli (which is in the possession of IG Wild beim Wild) to the FOEN dated 19 December 2014, he writes, for example:

"I assume that, after careful examination of the cantonal government's message and the two corresponding legal opinions, the FOEN will be able to align itself with the government's position. Otherwise, an exchange of views between the FOEN and the Canton of Graubünden must take place before the special hunt initiative is debated at the February 2015 session of the cantonal parliament. It must be prevented in particular that the FOEN and the Canton communicate differing views on the validity of the special hunt initiative".

And this is precisely what Regional Councillor Mario Cavigelli had planned all along — and then failed to do: namely, to communicate truthfully.

"I should have presented the letter from the Grand Council's committee," Cavigelli apologized under pressure during the question period of the parliamentary December 2017 session, following a motion by SVP Grand Councillor Jan Koch. Mario Cavigelli was facing the threat of an embarrassing Parliamentary Investigative Committee (PUK).

In the Grand Council, Cavigelli said:

“"We simply know, it is clear from our perspective, that forest law and federal hunting law are incompatible with the initiative, and therefore it is invalid.".

This, despite the fact that he had in his possession a letter from an official and higher authority stating the opposite. Not only did he deliberately mislead the entire parliament.

Even the members of the preparatory committee had been kept in the dark about the federal letter, and the parliament ultimately declared the initiative invalid. The problem for Mario Cavigelli was that the initiators refused to back down and took the matter all the way to the Federal Supreme Court, where the initiative was ultimately declared valid — and Mario Cavigelli's serious misconduct came to light.

Had the FOEN decided in favor of Regional Councillor Mario Cavigelli and his departmental head, this FOEN report of 5 January 2015 wouldmost certainly have been communicated promptly in all media as well, rather than simply disappearing into one of Mario Cavigelli's desk drawers. Yet this is precisely what Mario Cavigelli had to do, because hedid not want:

…the FOEN and the canton to communicate differing views on the validity of the special hunting initiative.

Mario Cavigelli himself had consulted the higher authority (FOEN) to clarify whether the initiative was valid. To then conceal that authority's findings and downplay them under pressure is simply unacceptable.

The conclusion of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) was unambiguous: the special hunting initiative does not manifestly violate federal law. This is stated at the end of a four-page letter that the FOEN sent to Graubünden Regional Councillor Mario Cavigelli, approximately one month before the special hunting initiative was debated in the Graubünden parliament.. The thing is: nobody knew about the existence of this letter at the time, because Cavigelli had kept it secret. Unaware of this letter, the Grand Council declared the special hunting initiative invalid, whereupon the initiators appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.

In contrast to the private sphere, backroom dealings by the state have an additional dimension: trust in the state suffers. And this trust is fundamental to the functioning of state institutions and, ultimately, democracy. A lack of trust accordingly endangers the common good.

At the beginning of November 2017, the Federal Supreme Court also ruled 5:0 that the first special hunting initiative by the hobby hunters is valid and must therefore be put to a public vote. Cavigelli opposed this unsuccessfully, true to his characteristically arrogant hobby-hunter mentality. He subsequently referred to the federal judges in Lausanne in a television interview as essentially unqualified “civil-servant judges”.

Furthermore, two legal opinions have already pointed out that the special hunting initiative does not stand in “obvious” contradiction to federal law.

State Councillor Mario Cavigelli has caused the initiative committee, taxpayers, and others a great deal of frustration, disruption, and expense, and has wilfully deceived the entire population.

For this reason, IG Wild beim Wild filed a criminal complaint with the competent public prosecutor’s office in Chur, citing, among other things, abuse of office and breach of official duty.