Former President of the Federal Supreme Court demands resignation of judges

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• The former President of the Federal Supreme Court, Ulrich Meyer, is calling for the resignation of federal judges Yves Donzallaz and Beatrice van de Graaf.
• Meyer accuses the two of concealing their relationship and thus leading the Federal Supreme Court into an institutional crisis.
• According to Meyer, the Administrative Commission of the Federal Supreme Court must also take responsibility and enable a fresh start in terms of personnel.

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The affair surrounding the federal judges Yves Donzallaz and Beatrice van de Graaf continues to cause unrest in the Swiss judiciary. Now a prominent critic, Ulrich Meyer, is speaking out.

By concealing their love affair, Donzallaz and van de Graaf had allowed the Federal Supreme Court to "slide into an institutional crisis with their eyes wide open", said Meyer in an interview published on Friday. This would require their immediate resignation or at least their decision not to seek re-election in September 2026. The law expressly prohibits a "permanent cohabitation" between members of the Federal Supreme Court.

In Meyer's opinion, the Administrative Commission under President François Chaix cannot escape responsibility, even if it claims to have known nothing about the relationship. The Commission itself had stated that it was aware of a familiar relationship between Donzallaz and van de Graaf. Even an intimate relationship could affect judicial independence and must therefore be investigated further, said Meyer. The members of the Administrative Commission would have to draw conclusions and make a fresh start possible.

Own mistakes not comparable

Meyer did not want to compare his own misconduct during his time in office with the hushed-up love affair. Meyer was criticized in 2020 for derogatory comments about a judge at the Federal Criminal Court. His internal comments about that judge were a mistake, he admitted in an interview with CH-Media.

With regard to a previous relationship with a female court clerk at the then Federal Insurance Court in Lucerne, Meyer emphasized that he had acted with complete transparency. He also informed the entire panel of judges when the relationship came to an end, said Meyer.