Showing posts with label Swiss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swiss. Show all posts

Friday, February 11, 2011

Swiss Twins: Dad's Online Search For Poison - Sky News

3:44am UK, Friday February 11, 2011

Pete Norman, Sky News Online

pictures of six-year-old twin girls, Alessia and Livia Schepp, outside the Cerignola Station in southern Italy Twins Alessia and Livia Schepp were taken by their father last month

An international search for the blonde 6-year-olds, Alessia and Livia, has been under way since last month when their Swiss mother reported them missing.

And in an ominous sign, Italian authorities now say the father, Matthias Kaspar Schepp, took his daughters to Corsica - but left the French island alone.

Police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel revealed that analysis of the father's work computer had turned up the new leads and the investigation is also now focusing on his behaviour before he disappeared.

"Before leaving Switzerland he researched websites for information on firearms and various methods of suicide, different poisoning techniques and ferry timetables," Mr Sauterel said.

Italian Alps Rescue vuolunteers and fire fighters check a water tank in search of twin six-year-old girls, Alessia and Livia Schepp, outside Cerignola Station, southern Italy on Febraury 5, 2011. Police in three countries were hunting for six-year-old twin girls Saturday after their father who had snatched them from their home in Switzerland threw himself under an Italian train, reports said. Separated from his wife Irina, 44, he had snatched the twins from their home in western Switzerland on Sunday and driven them away in her stolen car The search for the missing girls continues

"Investigations continue in Switzerland and in Italy, but are now revolving around Corsica."

Schepp, 43, was found dead on February 3 in the Italian city of Cerignola after apparently throwing himself under a train.

His Audi A6 was found parked near the station, with no child car seats or children's clothing inside.

Schepp picked up his daughters on January 30, but did not return them to their mother, Irina Lucidi, that night, or to school the next morning, as planned.

She has since made an emotional appeal for information about her daughters.

The parents, who had separated, lived in St. Sulpice, an affluent lakefront community in Lausanne, and police tracked his movement from Lausanne to France using his mobile phone signal.

He left Lausanne with the girls in the afternoon and the next day withdrew 7,500 euros (£6,300) in cash in Marseille before buying three tickets for the French island of Corsica.

Several witnesses have come forward to say they saw the twins with their father on the boat, notably in the children's play area. One witness has formally recognized the father at the port in Propriano on the morning of February 1.

Before leaving Switzerland he researched websites for information on firearms and various methods of suicide, different poisoning techniques and ferry timetables

Police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel on the missing girls' father

Mr Sauterel said the father looked at sites about firearms on January 27 - the day he wrote a will police later found in his home and three days before he disappeared with the girls.

"Two days before he fled he looked up information about different poisoning techniques and timetables for ferries between Marseille and Corsica," Mr Sauterel said.

"The information shows that the father had planned the trip in detail."

Police are still investigating if Schepp's online research into poisons was self-directed, or aimed at his children.

:: Anyone with information on the twins has been asked to contact the investigating authorities on +41 21 644 82 31.


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Monday, February 7, 2011

Bush cancels Swiss visit over arrest fears - Times of India

WASHINGTON: Former US President George W Bush has reportedly cancelled a visit to Switzerland amid concerns that he could be arrested for allegedly authorising the torture of prisoners.

The former American leader was due to speak at a charity gala, making the keynote speech at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner in the city of Geneva on February 12, the 'Sky News' reported online.

Human rights groups in the country, however, have been calling for the Swiss government to arrest Bush over allegations he had ordered the torture of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

Court officials have said criminal complaints against Bush have been lodged in Geneva, but Swiss officials said that he would enjoy diplomatic immunity as a former head of state, the report said.

In his memoirs and television interviews, Bush has admitted to ordering use of waterboarding, which simulated drowning, as an interrogation technique.

Waterboarding is considered a form of torture which is a crime under international law, and human rights experts say absolute prohibition is very clear. Some left-wing groups had also called for a protest on the day of his visit.

Even Keren Hayesod's organisers said they felt the atmosphere had become too threatening.

"We didn't want to put people and property in Geneva at risk. The gala is maintained but George Bush will not take part. The criminal complaints did not weigh in the decision," the group's lawyer Robert Equey was quoted as saying.


View the original article here