(LifeSiteNews) — A leftist Swiss politician who posted photos of herself shooting an image of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary has been convicted and sentenced to a fine.
Former member of the Green Liberal Party (GLP), Sanija Ameti, was convicted by a Zurich court and fined 3,500 Swiss Francs ($4,563). She was accused of “disturbing freedom of religion” and “endangering religious peace.”
According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, the Zurich public prosecutor’s office argued that Ameti had “publicly and maliciously insulted or mocked the beliefs of others, in particular their belief in God.” The public prosecutor’s office indicted Ameti in July 2025 and sought fines totaling 12,500 Swiss francs ($16,297). The court ultimately handed out a less severe punishment, citing that the loss of her job and the damage to her reputation were already part of the punishment.
Judge Hugo Kronauer said, “There was undoubtedly a disregard for faith,” since “the two most central figures of Christianity were shot several times in the head.”
At the same time, Ameti could not be accused of intent, as she had been in an emotionally stressful situation. Her defense attorney, Peter Bettoni, said in his closing statement that the politician had witnessed her older brother being shot dead in the Bosnian War when she was a small child. With her air gun shooting practice, she tried to “cry out to the world the pain she had carried inside her for so long.”
As LifeSiteNews reported, the incident occurred in September 2024. After facing outrage over her blasphemous actions, Ameti posted an apology and deleted the video, stating: “As a template for the 10-meter shooting range, I needed motifs that were visible enough. I only had the Koller catalog to hand, which was big enough. I didn’t pay attention to the content of the pictures. That wasn’t right. I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart if I offended anyone!”
Ameti had resigned from her position in the GLP in the canton of Zurich and was later expelled from GLP altogether. The former politician, who was born in Bosnia to Muslim parents, had also lost her job as a consultant at the Swiss PR agency Farner.
Only Operation Libero, a left-wing political movement in which Ameti still serves as co-president, defended her, writing that it values Ameti as “a politician, co-president, and friend,” while stating that her actions were “wrong and inappropriate.”
