Jagd Schweiz vs. Wild beim Wild: Acquittal on Two Counts

Hunting associations are always a gathering place for criminals and mentally disturbed individuals who should be the last people to hold firearms licences and hunting permits.

Editorial Team Wild beim Wild — 23 September 2017

On Friday, 22 September 2017, a court hearing took place in Bellinzona in the case of JagdSchweiz/Jacomella Sergio against IG Wild beim Wild.

IG Wild beim Wild (represented by Carl Sonnthal) was able to correct the facts and was acquitted on 2 counts.

Judge Marco Kraushaar saw through the dishonest and devious manoeuvring of attorney Carlo Vitalini and cleared us of the charge that we had failed to comply with the interim injunction (disobbedienza a decisioni dell’autorita of 28 December 2017). The strategy of the Jagd Schweiz association — to bring as much nonsense and lies into the courtroom as possible in the hope that something would stick — is increasingly backfiring.

The judge also concluded that a flyer (abolition of hobby hunting, see below) cannot constitute defamation. Jagd Schweiz is and remains an extremely dubious and militant organisation whose members are involved in thousands of legal violations every year (This acquittal is not mentioned later in the written judgement and its reasoning!). We presented the court with an initial dossier containing relevant information about criminal activities by hobby hunters, including arms smuggling, assault, threats, and more.

Flyer on the Abolition of Hobby Hunting — Flyer: Abolition of Hobby Hunting

Plain Talk for Wildlife

True words are not always pleasant, but that is no reason to harass law-abiding citizens through legal threats of defamation simply for stating the facts. Among other things, the IG Wild beim Wild sees itself as an advocate and voice for wildlife. From the perspective of wild animals, hobby hunting is nothing other than terror and a form of war. Hobby hunters are always eco-terrorists, and wild animals are refugees! And yes, the IG Wild beim Wild speaks plainly! There are many well-known organizations that also express themselves clearly and in no uncertain terms against today's form of hobby hunting and animal cruelty.

And rightly so. The torment and suffering of animals take precedence over the comfort of those who abuse and exploit them. In Germany, for example, such campaigns draw public attention to grievances directed at animal exploiters and abusers.

PETA Campaign Against Animal Exploitation

The perpetrators must be named by their proper names, and the injustice done to animals must not be glossed over.

The IG Wild beim Wild legitimately advocates for modern wildlife management — without hobby hunters who torture and massacre wild animals for fun. Without good reason, hobby hunting provides absolutely no benefit to society whatsoever.

Wildlife protection in Switzerland has been stagnating for many years, or is even moving backwards. Hundreds of thousands of animals suffer terrible torment under the yoke of hobby hunters. This is largely because the organization Jagd Schweiz (Tarzisius Caviezel, Thomas Hüssy, Peter Zenklusen, Jean-Claude Givel, Franco Scodeller, Hanspeter Egli, Fabio Regazzi, Enrico Capra, Adrian Zumstein) repeatedly blocks, delays, or sabotages long-overdue measures in this area. The organization and its sections abuse their power to preserve and promote perverse hunting urges. When violent individuals or serial killers hold power and take pleasure in killing living beings — and even pay for the privilege — then something is fundamentally wrong with society as a whole.

The motives of hobby hunters

In an email, written by the parliamentary correspondent of the Basler Zeitung, hobby hunter Dominik Feusi, to the president of JagdSchweiz (Hanspeter Egli), the underlying motives of those barking against the IG Wild beim Wild are exposed:

«The hobby hunter (Jacomella Sergio) has successfully filed a complaint (not yet legally binding). He will file even more complaints — the goal is to silence Sonnthal completely. The lawyer is Thierry Burkhart, National Councillor FDP. I recommend using the same lawyer to coordinate the matter. The more complaints are filed, the sooner he will disappear from the scene. Feel free to contact me with any questions.» Jägersgfell Dominik

It is nothing new that hobby hunters cause enormous costs, not only for the justice system. In the canton of Graubünden alone, for example, more than 1’000 complaints and fines must be processed every year because hobby hunters violate the law. What the association JagdSchweiz and the problem hunter Jacomella Sergio are doing here with the justice system in Ticino is just another unpalatable recipe from the kitchen of violent offenders.

Unfortunately, many people are unfamiliar with recreational hunting and the shameful acts associated with it, blinded as they are by romanticised notions. A look at the relevant magazines, forums, and social media profiles of hobby hunters can quickly set the record straight.

In light of this, animal and environmental advocates still have a great deal of genuine educational work to do regarding hunting practices, animal cruelty, the glorification of violence, the dumbing down of the public, and more.

A troubling example occurred recently near Geneva, when a Swiss hobby hunter cold-bloodedly shot four donkeys from a herd, with only one managing to escape. Interestingly, the general public was outraged because the victims were donkeys — yet this is exactly what happens to hundreds of millions of wild animals when hobby hunters go out and kill wildlife without reason. Hobby hunters are always eco-terrorists, polluters of nature and the environment, and wild animals are refugees, as the example in Geneva so vividly illustrates.

The dubious hobby hunter from Aarburg

The hobby hunter Jacomella Sergio has still been unable to obtain a legally binding ruling (the judgment is being appealed). In truth, the upgraded banner does not bother Jacomella Sergio in the slightest — even though he has sued us over it — because we offered to remove the banner, but the hobby hunter has no interest in that whatsoever.

We deleted the banner immediately after this first anonymous request from Jacomella Sergio on Facebook. However, he still filed a defamation complaint against us. This is clearly a breach of contract. For this reason, the banner (now featuring a black bar) can remain in place until the exact facts of the matter have been conclusively clarified.

Groups of people or members of a particular professional group (such as hobby hunters) are not protected against defamation.

No violation of honor or defamation occurs when the person concerned is disparaged in terms of their social standing or social position (as a businessman, professional, athlete, artist, etc.).

And:

… The decisive factor in assessing whether a statement is defamatory is not the value judgment of the person concerned, but the meaning that an impartial recipient would attribute to the statement under the specific circumstances …

The criminal offense of defamation aims to punish someone who spreads false, honor-damaging claims about another person contrary to their better knowledge.

Jacomella Sergio was not named by name on the banner in any way, and according to Facebook's terms and conditions, publicly posted images may be shared, modified, and commented on. Jacomella Sergio is neither directly addressed nor referred to as a terrorist by us. The banner contains only a simple question. Facebook also did not object to the banner for good reason.

2.4. If you use the «Public» setting when publishing content or information, all people, including those who do not use Facebook, can access that information, use it, and associate it with you (i.e., with your name and profile picture). https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

There can be no question of defamation. In particular, because pursuant to Art. 173 Para. 2 of the Swiss Criminal Code, the statements made or disseminated by us correspond to the truth and are not directly related to Jacomella Sergio. From the perspective of an impartial observer, the man on the right in the image could just as easily be a simple marksman or dog owner, and the man on the left a soldier of some army.

Jacomella Sergio did not appear at the hearing, even though he had apparently intended to record the proceedings on an audio device — presumably illegally — for the benefit of Dominik Feusi, the Bundeshaus correspondent for the Basler Zeitung.

Jacomella Sergio, however, is one of the extremely militant hobby hunters who has been posting all manner of nonsense, lies, defamation, and so on on Facebook for years.

For the IG Wild beim Wild, it is fundamentally completely inexplicable that hobby hunters with such behavior can be in possession of a firearms license and hunting permit at all. In military or police service, they would have long since been dishonorably discharged.

Since, from the perspective of IG Wild beim Wild, there are still three unresolved charges (defamation), we will pursue the proceedings further.

Freedom of opinion and freedom of the press as a fundamental value

There is a tendency today for those who point out grievances to be convicted, while the real perpetrators go unpunished.

Update 24.9.2017

That is exactly how many hobby hunters and animal exploiters are. The moment they open their mouths, nothing comes out but nonsense and lies. And when you present hobby hunters with facts, or try to gently but firmly bring them back into line, you receive a complaint for defamation. Exhibits #88 and #88-2 are already on file with the court.