Jaccoud case

The Affaire Jaccoud, also known as the “Affaire Poupette”, was a Swiss judicial scandal of the 1960s.

Murder of Charles Zumbach

On 1 May 1958, the seventy year old agricultural machinery dealer Charles Zumbach was brutally murdered at his home in Plan-les-Ouates. When his wife arrived at the scene, she heard four shots and cries for help. Shortly afterwards an unknown man shoved her towards the garden and started shooting at her. Later, she could not recall the appearance of the offender. The perpetrator - perhaps there were several - turned back to the injured Charles Zumbach, and stabbed him to death with a knife before escaping on a bicycle.

Zumbach ran an agricultural machinery business in Plan-les-Ouates. It was later revealed that his store also served as the headquarters of an international gang of criminals and arms dealers led by a former member of the French Foreign Legion known as “Reymond”.

The accused lawyer, Pierre Jaccoud

When the police interrogated Zumbach's son André, he said he had recieved two calls in his office (a radio station in Geneva) the night of the killing, but the caller did not say anything. André Zumbach suspected that the caller wanted to make sure that he was not at his parents' house. At this point Pierre Jaccoud came under suspicion as the caller. Jaccoud had had, as it turned out, an eight-year relationship with Linda Baud (called "Poupette" by Jaccoud), who worked at a radio station as chief secretary. Baud had an affair with André Zumbach and wanted to separate herself from Jaccoud. Jaccoud wrote her many desperate letters to convince her to stay with him. Eight months before the murder, faced with Baud's continued resistance, Jaccoud sent nude photos of her to her new lover, André Zumbach. The police began to suspect Jaccoud of the murder

Contested expert testimony

The police searched Jaccoud's appartment while he was on a business trip to Stockholm as part of his job as Vice President of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce. There was blood on a jacket and a Moroccan knife, but, as later studies revealed, Jaccoud as well as the victim were from the same blood group. Thus, the testimony of Professor Erik Undritz from Basel was irrelevant. In addition fresh liver cells of unknown, perhaps animal origin were found on the knife. Jaccoud owned two pistols, but not the murder weapon. In addition, on the road near the Zumbach's house a button was found that matched the buttons of one of Jaccoud's coats. The coat itself was found in a box of used clothing, and was missing exactly one button. On his return in June 1958 Jaccoud was arrested. In prison he suffered a nervous collapse and spent most of his time in the infirmary.

The case

From 14 January 1960 onwards, the trial took place before a jury in Geneva. The case attracted attention far beyond the Swiss borders. Defending Jaccouds was the famous Paris barrister René Floriot, while on the side of the indictment was the prosecutor Charles Cornu. There were many mix-ups - for example, Zumbach's wife did not pick Jaccoud out of a line-up but instead identified a policeman. Linda Baud has claimed that at the time of the act, that she was no longer in a relationship with André Zumbach, but instead with another man. Nevertheless, Jaccoud was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter. The jury deliberated for three hours.

For the Paris press, the case was typical of Swiss compromise. According to them, Jaccoud was a victim of the Genevan Calvinist morality. In reaction, angry students burned Paris newspapers before the court in Geneva. In 1980, the court rejected a final appeal of the case. Pierre Jaccoud died in 1994.

Controversial judgement

This judgement is one of the most controversial Swiss judgments, or, in other words, "un des dossiers" les plus troublants, énigmatiques qui les plus jamais aient défrayé judiciaire de la chronique [la Suisse]»". Gerhard Mauz considered the case as a second "Dreyfus Affair."

According to Hans Martin Sutermeister, it was nothing more than a judicial error, whose main cause was faulty forensic expertises. Sutermeister described Hegg as "an autodidact lacking in serious studies, who has made many mistakes". According to Sutermeister, Zumbach was killed because he sold Algerian rebels non-working explosives to the tune of 12,000 dollars. Following his theory, Sutermeister found an international band of crooks and arms dealers using Zumbach's garage as the headquarters for their criminal activities. Lead by the former legionaire "Reymond", who once served in Indochina this band kept a collection of knives and daggers in Zumbach's garage - surely with the homeowner's knowledge. Among these weapons were the murder weapons. Sutermeister's argument is that the blood analysis was poorly done.

Film

In 1974, the case was dramatized by the German series Fernsehpitaval under the direction of Wolfgang Luderer with the title "The nude photographs".

External links

• Sylvie Arsever, Affaire Jaccoud: l'ombre d'un doute?, Le Temps, 9. Juli 2007.
• L'Affaire Poupette, Time Magazine; February 1, 1960.
• TIME 15.02.1960 - The Verdict (EN)
• "Pierre Jaccoud beteuert seine Unschuld" und "Interview mit Linda Baud (Poupette)", Television show on ORTF, Archive of the Institut national de l'audiovisuel, Paris.
• Ursula von Kardorff, Mordsache Jaccoud - der „Prozeß des Jahres, Die Zeit Nr. 07; February 12, 1960.

Literature

• Jürgen Thorwald Die Stunde der Detektive - Bd.1 Blutiges Geheimnis, Knaur Taschenbuch 1972
• Stéphane Jourat L'Affaire Jaccoud, Editor: Fleuve Noir, 1992.