MPs set to pardon 'witch'

Vienna: The 18th century execution of the last European witch to be sentenced to death by a court of law has plunged Switzerland into an unlikely political debate over whether she should now be pardoned.

Anna Goeldi, a housemaid, was executed by decapitation after being found guilty of witchcraft in the small Alpine town of Glarus in 1782.

Now, 225 years later, a group of local and federal MPs has prepared a parliamentary motion demanding the full rehabilitation of Goeldi, who was tortured into confessing to being a witch and was subsequently beheaded. Campaigners claim she was the victim of a conspiracy between the eastern town's juridical and Protestant church authorities.

Goeldi was employed by the family of a rich married politician, who apparently impregnated and then sacked her, claiming she made his daughter ill by witchcraft, before denouncing her to the authorities.

The move, believed to be the first of its kind, follows other recent attempts to right historical wrongs, including a spate of apologies from countries involved in the slave trade. It comes after officials of the Glarus canton and the Swiss church admitted an error was committed 225 years ago - but refused to initiate legal procedures to clear Goeldi.

Walter Hauser, a lawyer and author from Glarus, won support for his campaign on Goeldi's behalf from a cross-party group of MPs, who are now seeking justice in canton and national parliaments.

Overdue

He said: "As a lawyer, I studied the case for years and I believe a full rehabilitation of that innocent victim is long overdue. It will have more than symbolic value for all victims of persecution and juridical injustice."

In a book published last month, The Juridical Murder of Anna Goeldi, he cites evidence indicating the housemaid was a victim of a conspiracy by her former employer, the influential judge and politician Johannes Tschudi.

Adulterers faced removal from all public offices, and because Goeldi threatened to reveal their relationship, the judge conspired with his friends and relatives in the court and church to have her executed.

According to Jenny Gibbons's article "Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt", persecution rocketed in about 1550 and continued for 100 years before dropping off sharply after 1650.