The Swiss Federal Court has confirmed the sentence given by a regional court to a Somali woman from canton Neuchâtel found guilty of genital mutilation of her two daughters. The Neuchâtel court had sentenced the woman to eight months’ prison,in the first Swiss case of its kind. In a ruling made public on Friday, Switzerland’s highest court dismissed the woman’s claims that she did not know it was a criminal act. The girls were six and a half and seven when the procedure was carried out between 2013 and 2015 in Somalia and Ethiopia. The Federal Court said that the fact the act was carried out abroad and that the woman did not maintain any relation to Switzerland at that moment did not play a role under the law. The Neuchâtel court judgement was based on a relatively unique article in Swiss law which aims to prevent Swiss-based families from having their daughters circumcised, and whether in Switzerland or abroad. + Read more about the law change here The mother now lives in ...
Source: swissinfo.ch