Posted
NeuchâtelConvicted and expelled from Switzerland after sleeping in an organ
The defendant was not convicted of damaging an instrument at the collegiate church, but of assaulting guards and harassing a judge.
The Walcker organ is accessible by a spiral staircase of 19 steps.
lematin.ch/Vincent Donzé
His night spent in the organ of the collegiate church of Neuchâtel earned him three months in prison, but not for having damaged the instrument. It is for violence and threats against the authority and its representatives that this 32-year-old man was sentenced, as indicated by the radio “RTN».
The visionary stayed for a night or two in the Walcker organ, without the knowledge of the people in charge of site security. The substitute organist noticed his presence on June 16, a month after the inauguration of the restored organ.
The depredations were not committed with an intention to harm, nor for political or religious motivations. Moving with flowers and a candle inside the organ, the idler walked on precious wooden rods integrated into the mechanism. He also damaged some on the ceiling, just as unintentionally, perhaps while balancing, head down.
While walking inside the organ, the idler broke wooden rods
Sebastien Anex/Vincent Donze
In Boudry, the Littoral and Val-de-Travers Criminal Court sentenced the defendant for violence committed against staff at La Chaux-de-Fonds prison. The defendant was also accused of coercion towards a judge of the Regional Court of Neuchâtel: for months, he sent her “inappropriate” mail. He went to the court office to bring her flowers and letters.
The Criminal Court found that the damage was not done intentionally, but negligently. The defendant was deemed criminally irresponsible: his behavior was visibly motivated by a romantic delirium. But despite his persistent mental disorders. the judges retained the physical attacks and the threats on two guards of the prison of La Chaux-de-Fonds, as well as on the deputy director of the establishment.
Attenuated liability
The Court attributed to the defendant anti-social character traits and, therefore, a moderately attenuated responsibility. In addition to the three months in prison already served, the Court ordered forced institutional placement to treat his delusional disorders. The defendant was staying in Neuchâtel in an irregular situation and according to “RTN”, the sentence imposed is accompanied by an expulsion from Swiss territory valid for ten years.
At the collegiate church of Neuchâtel, two organs face each other. The one that was damaged has 27 stops spread over two 54-key keyboards and a 27-key pedalboard, for a total of around 1600 pipes. It is the one that has the greatest value, not musical but historical.
Repairing wooden sticks flanked by rods and springs was a job entrusted to the French organ builder Pascal Quoirin, involved in the restoration of the collegiate church of Neuchâtel before being hired in Paris for that of Notre -Lady.