Bishop forgives Green politician for shooting at Mary with the Christ Child, as does the once named Catholic Women's Association

10,000 Swiss francs fine for shooting at Mary with the Christ Child – this is what the public prosecutor's office is demanding

Former GLP (Green Liberal Party of Switzerland) politician Sanija Ameti caused horror and outrage by shooting at a picture of Mary and Jesus. The Zurich public prosecutor's office has now filed criminal charges against the 33-year-old.

Sanija Ameti shot around 20 times at a picture of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. The pictures she posted of the incident on Instagram triggered a storm of protest and several complaints. She is now suing the Zurich public prosecutor's office for disturbing religious freedom. Ameti faces a fine of 10,000 Swiss francs and a fine of 2,500 Swiss francs, as "20 Minuten" recently reported.

Apologized afterwards

Recall: Last September, Sanija Ameti used an air pistol in a basement to shoot at a catalog page of an auction house that showed a picture of Mary with Jesus. The GLP politician and co-president of Operation Libero posted two photos of the action on Instagram with the word "Switch off." Ameti quickly deleted the posts after being contacted by "Blick" and apologized.

But this failed to prevent a flood of headlines or a storm of protest. The politician lost her job at the PR agency Farner and resigned from the leadership of the Zurich GLP. Shortly after, she publicly apologised.

Young Swiss People's Party (conservative) and others filed a criminal complaint

In January of this year, she resigned from the GLP, and one day later, she announced that she would remain co-president of Operation Libero. Since then, she has been active in the Zurich city parliament as an independent.

Shortly after the action became known, the Young SVP Switzerland filed a criminal complaint for violations of freedom of religion and belief. Further criminal charges followed, as the Keystone-SDA news agency reported.

The Bishop forgave her

The Catholic Church, meanwhile, granted Sanija Ameti absolution. The Bishop of Chur, Joseph Maria Bonnemain, forgave her in a public statement on September 13th – and called on everyone to do the same. And as early as September 10th, the Swiss Catholic Women's Federation (SFK) – now called the Swiss Women's Federation – called for calm.

"The fact that Bishop Bonnemain forgave me, and also the reaction of the Catholic Women's Federation, were surprises. One of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced," she told the "Aargauer Zeitung" at the time. "In the Catholic Church, of all places, I found a humanism and enlightenment that I had missed elsewhere. All the more so because the bishop's statement was very heartfelt. That gave me strength and hope."

Now Sanija Ameti must answer to the court. The presumption of innocence applies.

Source

Many of the Green politicians that I met in Brussels were furiously anti-Catholic and anti-semitic.

The Women's Association (Cathcon: formerly the Swiss Catholic Women's Association- they now call themselves Women's Association with the tagline surprisingly different Catholic) welcomed Sanija Ameti's Statement

In September, Sanija Ameti, a politician with the Green Liberal Party (GLP) and co-president of Operation Libero, sparked a heated controversy with an Instagram post. Now, Ameti is breaking her silence and speaking out about the motives behind her shooting an image of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and Archangel Michael.

In September 2024, justified astonishment quickly turned into a storm of protest. The Women's Association strongly condemned the manhunt against Ameti, who was subsequently under police protection. Now, the lawyer has spoken out about the motives behind her actions, which are related to the murder of her brother.

Ameti describes the evening she was carried away by the momentous act as a moment of enormous exhaustion. Overworked and overtired, the sports shooter wanted to clear her head by shooting, she says. The 32-year-old insists that the choice of the Madonna motif from the Koller auction house catalog was pure coincidence. Ameti's Bosnian family fled the horrors of war to Switzerland in the 1990s. The 32-year-old did not perceive the depiction of Mary and Jesus as a religious motif. Instead, it reminded her of her mother and brother, who was murdered as a child before fleeing to Switzerland, triggering a pain "that knows no beginning and no end," Ameti says.

Boulevard newspaper reports and questionable media-ethical behavior by individual journalists, such as the publication of Ameti's private address, fueled a mood for weeks that reached its sad climax on social media platforms in the form of racism, sexism, and threats of violence. Right-wing conservative circles poured Islamophobia and xenophobia against the avowed atheist, whose Bosnian family has a Muslim background. "Criticism is legitimate, but it must be appropriate. Ameti had to serve as a social outlet. Seeing everything the angry mob projected onto Ameti was frightening," said Sarah Paciarelli, Communications at SKF.

The Women's Federation criticized the debate culture back in September and today calls for empathy. "Wars leave behind traumas that sometimes surface in paradoxical, irrational ways. A thoughtless grab for a smartphone, combined with the dynamics of social media, can destroy lives. As Christians, we are called upon to work for peace. This starts small and also applies to our interactions online," said Women's Federation President Simone Curau-Aepli. The Women's Federation thanks Sanija Ameti for her statement. In an interview with CH Media, she described the reaction of the Catholic women's organization as "one of the most beautiful things" she has ever experienced.