Politics · Switzerland · 15 hrs ago
Swiss court rejects Donzallaz's request to remove fellow judge
Swiss judge Yves Donzallaz lost his bid to remove fellow judge Grégory Bovey from proceedings involving him.
The dispute stems from Donzallaz's relationship with fellow judge Beatrice van de Graaf, which came to light in April.
Fifteen requests seek reviews of rulings that Donzallaz and van de Graaf took part in during their roughly year-long relationship.
The court assigned the review cases to its Second Civil Law Division, where Bovey is president.
Donzallaz argued Bovey could not handle the cases fairly, but the court found no evidence of bias and said it had no doubts about Bovey's composure.
The interim decision does not settle whether the relationship breached court rules or whether any of the rulings should be overturned.
Parliament will decide on judicial appointments in its winter session, while a parliamentary committee has yet to decide whether to recommend Donzallaz and van de Graaf for another term.
Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court rejected Yves Donzallaz’s request to have fellow judge Grégory Bovey removed from revision proceedings.
The court said Donzallaz had not shown that Bovey was partisan, biased or prejudiced.
The proceedings concern 15 requests to reopen rulings involving Donzallaz and fellow judge Beatrice van de Graaf.
Donzallaz argued that Bovey had lost his composure after Donzallaz confronted him in his office.
The interim decision does not resolve whether the judges’ relationship breached rules on judicial independence.
- Who
- Swiss Federal Supreme Court judges Yves Donzallaz and Grégory Bovey. The request concerned Bovey’s role in proceedings involving Donzallaz.
- What
- The court rejected Donzallaz’s request to have Bovey removed from revision proceedings.
- When
- The court issued an interim decision reported on October 16, 2026. The date of the decision itself is not stated.
- Where
- The Federal Supreme Court in Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Why
- The court found that Donzallaz had not adequately shown Bovey was biased or unable to handle the proceedings impartially.
Yves Donzallaz
Grégory Bovey
Bovey’s impartiality
Yves Donzallaz
Donzallaz argued Bovey had lost control during a confrontation in his office and could not handle the cases with due composure.
Grégory Bovey
Bovey denied there were grounds for his recusal, and the court found Donzallaz had not established bias.
Handling the revision proceedings
Yves Donzallaz
Donzallaz sought Bovey’s removal from proceedings concerning rulings in which Donzallaz had participated.
Grégory Bovey
Bovey considered Donzallaz and van de Graaf should be excluded from the process to exchange views on the revision cases.
A journalist revealed that Donzallaz and van de Graaf had been in a relationship.
Bovey informed Bernard Abrecht that he believed Donzallaz and van de Graaf should be excluded from the exchange of views on the revision cases.
Donzallaz went to Bovey’s office to protest.
Bovey informed the Federal Supreme Court’s administrative commission about the incident.
Watson reported that the court had rejected Donzallaz’s request to remove Bovey.
- Revision requests
- 15
- Judges involved in the relationship
- Yves Donzallaz and Beatrice van de Graaf
- Division assigned the cases
- Second Civil Law Division
- Request to remove
- Grégory Bovey
- Date of exchange-of-views decision
- October 6
What people are saying
Donzallaz had not in the slightest been able to explain how Bovey was supposed to be partisan, biased or prejudiced in the revision proceedings.
Bovey had lost control when he appeared in his office.