Self-proclaimed victim of Zug Sex Scandal, Jolanda Spiess-Hegglin, now faces prosecution herself

Back in December of 2014, a celebration was held on the occasion of the election to head of the cantonal government of Heinz Tännler, now the head of finance in the canton. However, it was not this celebration which made headlines, it was what allegedly happened subsequent to this party at the Schiff restaurant in the city.
 
Among the guests were many members of the cantonal parliament, including Jolanda Spiess-Hegglin of the Alternative Green Party and Markus Hürlimann of the SVP party (the photographs shows the pair on the night in question). Allegations were made by Spiess-Hegglin that Hürlimann had defiled her after lacing her drink. As a result of her filing charges against Hürlimann, he was detained overnight by the police. Only in August of 2015 was the SVP party politician exonerated of any charges, the prosecution ruling he had no case to answer.
 
The story dominated the newspaper headlines in the early days of 2015, and not just in Zug, but nationally too; it became known as the Zug Sex Scandal.
 
Now, nearly three years after the said party, the renowned national journal Weltwoche has divulged that Spiess- Hegglin herself is to face a number of charges, of which one is libel, for which she could face a prison sentence of more than two years. The cantonal prosecution service confirmed this is the case but emphasised that Spiess-Hegglin should be assumed innocent until proven guilty.
 
According to this Weltwoche article published last week, the prosecution believes that, far from being the victim of an alleged crime, Spiess-Hegglin was the engineer of events which happened that night. It was the author of this article, journalist Philipp Gut, who himself was found guilty of libel by a court in Zurich in May this year after he had earlier written that Spiess-Hegglin had intentionally and falsely accused Hürlimann of wrongdoing, as a form of distraction from a sexual faux-pas.
 
Now it is Spiess-Hegglin herself who is facing charges of libel for implying through the social media that Hürlimann had committed an offence through violating her sexual integrity. In so doing, she had damaged his reputation. Furthermore, she had inferred towards third parties that Hürlimann was guilty of raping her. In addition, she had continued to maintain Hürlimann had laced her drink even after the time he had been exonerated.
 
Further allegations of libel relate to the fact that Spiess-Hegglin, who resigned from the cantonal parliament in 2016 and subsequently joined the Pirate Party, made statements to the prosecution service which she knew to be untrue, such as the allegation made through her and her spokesperson that, as a result of what happened on the night in question, she had sustained injuries. As the Cantonal Hospital subsequently confirmed, gynaecological examination revealed no injuries whatsoever. Furthermore, no traces of any knock-out or similar drugs were found neither in her blood nor her urine.
 
No date has yet been fixed for a court hearing.