Claudio Zali, president of the Ticino State Council and a member of the Lega party, had been at the centre of a political crisis for several weeks. It all began with the leak of an audio recording in which he can be heard encouraging a friend to hit someone who was harassing her – just as he himself claimed to have done. The scandal was enough to prompt him to tender his resignation as president of the cantonal government.
Then, in mid-August, the woman who had posted that audio was found dead in Lake Lugano, in Melide. The authorities concluded that it was an accident. Days earlier, she had been the victim of a serious assault. The circumstances made the whole situation seem far more sinister than it already was.
This week, the Ticino Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a new criminal case against Zali: this time for sexual assault, relating to incidents dating back several years. And there’s more: he already had another case pending for attempting to put pressure on the courts to release the youngest son of a friend who was in pre-trial detention. Zali denies everything and is contesting the charges.
The Ticino Government has convened an extraordinary meeting and has formally called on him to resign with immediate effect. He has not yet responded. In Switzerland, stories like this usually disappear from the newspapers within three days. This one has been unfolding for weeks. And it does not seem to be over yet.