Dick Marty
Dick Marty (born January 7, 1945 in Sorengo) is a Swiss politician (FDP.The Liberals) and former state prosecutor of the canton of Ticino. He is a member of the Swiss Council of States (since 1995), and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Education
Marty holds a doctorate in law from the University of Neuchâtel with the thesis: "The role and the power of the Swiss judge in the application of penal sanctions" (French: Le rôle et les pouvoirs du juge suisse dans l'application des sanctions pénales).
Professional career
Max Planck Institute
From 1972 to 1975, Marty worked at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany, responsible for the section on Swiss law.
State prosecutor
In 1975, Marty was nominated state prosecutor of Ticino, in which post he was specially noted for his energetic activities fighting organized crime and drug abuse. For his achievements in the area of drug legislation, he received in 1987 an Award of Honor of the United States Department of Justice and a special award of honor by the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association. In 1989 he was elected a member of the cantonal executive in Ticino, where he was director of the finance department, and in 1992 additionally held the office of president, which rotates among the members. In 1995, upon being elected to the Swiss Council of States for Ticino, he resigned from his executive post and has since worked part-time as a legal and economic consultant.
In the Council of States he has been member of key commissions, including the Finance Commission and Economy and Taxes Commission, and took an active part in getting the new Swiss constitution through parliament.
Council of Europe
Since 1998 he has been a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe where he is a member of the Monitoring Committee, and second vice-chairperson of the Political Affairs Committee, with further positions in several subcommittees.
In 2005, Marty was appointed to lead an investigation by the Council of Europe into alleged illegal CIA secret prisons in Europe. Marty is planning to use satellite images and aviation logs - among many other sources of information - to find out whether the "rendition" of terror suspects for possible torture, or illegal secret detentions, have taken place in any of the Council of Europe's 47 member states. These activities could be a violation of European human rights standards. In June 2006 a report released by Marty on behalf of the Council of Europe announced that evidence showed that 14 European states had indeed assisted in the perpetration of such abuses.[1] [2]
Marty published the second part of this work on June 8, 2007, named Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: second report.[3]
On December 14, 2010, Marty passed a report for adoption to the Council of Europe alleging inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo involving Kosovo prime minister and former Kosovo Liberation Army political leader Hashim Thaçi.[4] Kosovo's acting president, Jakup Krasniqi, has called the report racist towards Albanians.[5] Prime Minister Thaci has pointed out Marty is an opponent of Kosovo's independence and said: "The report is politically motivated, it is not based on facts and its goal is to damage the newly-created state of Kosovo, Kosovo’s image, to question the election process, creation of institutions and Kosovo’s European future. This attack is directed against two states, Kosovo and Albania and against all Albanians". [6]
Other
Besides his political work, he has been, since 1996, president of Tourism Switzerland; he is the president of the Swiss Scoutism Foundation.
Family
Dick Marty is married and has three daughters.
Footnotes
- ^ Geoff Meade (Wednesday,June 7, 2006) Britain Named for Colluding in US Rendition Flights, originally by The Independent
- ^ Dick Marty (June 12, 2006) Alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states, Council of Europe
- ^ Dick Marty, (June 8, 2007), Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states: second report, Council of Europe
- ^ Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo: report by Dick Marty
- ^ http://www.president-ksgov.net/?page=2,6,1492
- ^ http://www.gazetaexpress.com/?cid=1,13,43875 Interview with Thaci in Kosovar daily Gazeta Express
External links
- www.DickMarty.ch – Personal homepage, mainly in Italian
- Biography of Dick Marty on the website of the Swiss Parliament. (Italian)
- Council of Europe:
- Profile page
- Chronology briefing note – Marty's investigation on CIA secret detentions
- Marty's draft report – Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo