Aargau opens an external inquiry into victim protection

The canton of Aargau has decided to commission an external inquiry into the conduct of its authorities in the Untersiggenthal sexual offences case, in which the former cantonal parliamentarian Patrick Frei is the defendant.

The subject of the examination is not the criminal case, which is taking its own course, but the administrative conduct surrounding it. The inquiry will focus on the protection of two foreign women involved and on possible failings by the offices concerned. It will examine whether procedures were properly conducted and whether the authorities had the necessary information at the moment they took their decisions.

The mandate also has a forward-looking component. Those appointed will have to assess whether the legal framework needs updating, at cantonal or federal level, to better protect victims in comparable situations.

The criticisms behind it

The decision follows press disclosure of the criminal proceedings against the former parliamentarian. The authorities were criticised for how they treated the foreign victims, in particular for the length of the investigation and for a removal order issued against one of them by the migration office.

It is this last point that defines the institutional knot. Someone who reports a crime and meanwhile receives a removal decision faces a conflict between two procedures that do not speak to each other: the criminal one, which needs their presence and their testimony, and the administrative one on residence rights, which follows its own criteria. Coordination between the two tracks depends on rules and practice, and that is precisely what the inquiry will have to reconstruct.

The departments concerned and the municipality of Untersiggenthal jointly determined that an externally conducted inquiry was the most effective solution. The choice removes the examination from the offices involved, which would otherwise be assessing their own conduct.

The timescales announced are long. The mandate is due to be awarded by the end of the month, while findings are expected in spring 2027.

The criminal proceedings remain separate and pending. The prosecution alleges that Frei drugged and sexually assaulted several women and a minor, and is seeking a life sentence. The defendant benefits from the presumption of innocence until a final judgment, and none of the administrative inquiry's assessments bears on that verdict.