Swiss Skinheads Attack Brazilian Pregnant Woman

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BRADLEY S. KLAPPER | February 12, 2009 03:35 PM EST | AP

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The scarred midsection, allegedly of Paula Oliveira, 26, of Brazil, can be seen in this photo taken in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, and given to a Brazilian newspaper by Oliveira's family. Zurich police on Thursday were investigating an alleged skinhead assault on Oliveira that caused her to miscarry twins and left her scarred with the initials of Switzerland's main right-wing party. (AP Photo/Agencia o Globo)

GENEVA — Zurich police on Thursday were investigating an alleged skinhead assault on a pregnant Brazilian woman that caused her to miscarry twins and left her scarred with the initials of Switzerland's main right-wing party.

Details of the attack shocked the Swiss public and prompted Brazilian officials to suggest it was prompted by xenophobia.

Zurich police said details were not yet clear but a man called Monday evening to report that a woman at a Zurich train station needed help. When police found her, she had the letters carved into her skin and told them she had suffered a miscarriage after the attack.

Brazil's Foreign Ministry and Brazilian media reported that three skinheads, one with a Nazi symbol tattooed on his forehead, attacked the woman outside a local train station in Zurich while she was heading home. She had been speaking in Portuguese to her mother on a cell phone when she was accosted.

Brazil's foreign ministry expressed "great concern" about the attack in a hastily arranged meeting Thursday in Brasilia with a Swiss diplomats. Foreign Minister Celso Amorim urged Swiss investigators to act with "transparency" so both countries can learn exactly what happened,

"There is a very strong appearance of xenophobia," Amorim said. "The person was not robbed, apparently she was not raped. That shows there was another motivation."

Pictures of the smiling, pregnant woman were splashed across Brazilian newspapers Thursday next to those of a bare stomach and legs with the initials SVP _ presumably for "Schweizerische Volkspartei" (Swiss People's Party) _ clearly visible in several places.

The woman has been identified by family members as 26-year-old Paula Oliveira, a lawyer working for European shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S.

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"What they did to my daughter is like a horror movie," the woman's father, lawyer Paulo Oliveira, told Brazil's Globo TV. He said she was cut about 100 times in an attack that lasted 10 minutes.

The woman moved to Switzerland several years ago to work for Maersk, and was pregnant with twins and planning to soon get married, according to her uncle Silvio Oliveira.

The Swiss People's Party has taken a hardline against immigrants. It has spearheaded campaigns against Swiss integration in Europe and pressed to toughen asylum laws and make it easier to expel foreign nationals.

But the party is part of Switzerland's broad coalition government and has never had links to neo-Nazism.

"This is a country of law, where every human being deserves respect," Oskar Freysinger, a hardline nationalist lawmaker in the party, told The Associated Press. "If that really was someone from our party, we wouldn't hesitate for a second. That person would be immediately kicked out."

Brazilians reacted with outrage to news of the attack.

"I don't have any desire to go travel there now. I think that if the Swiss government doesn't stand up for what happened, then they are closing the door to Brazilians," said banker Samuel Mateus in Sao Paulo.

___

Contributing to this report: Associated Press writers Alan Clendenning and Carolina Escalera in Sao Paulo, and Marco Sibaja in Brasilia.

GENEVA — Zurich police on Thursday were investigating an alleged skinhead assault on a pregnant Brazilian woman that caused her to miscarry twins and left her scarred with the initials of Switze...
GENEVA — Zurich police on Thursday were investigating an alleged skinhead assault on a pregnant Brazilian woman that caused her to miscarry twins and left her scarred with the initials of Switze...
 
 

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- New blowhard See Profile I'm a Fan of blowhard permalink

the racism of the swiss are only unknown to those who are clueless about life in switzerland. awful!!

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:42 PM on 02/12/2009
- New lynnn See Profile I'm a Fan of lynnn permalink

Wow that's so sad, she's lawyer, but I guess they thought anyone who wasn't as pale as snow is a day laborer, or maid, or something.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:14 PM on 02/12/2009
- sve See Profile I'm a Fan of sve permalink

Maybe Davos is not such a great location for "forward thinking, big minds" to convene each year. That organization which has such a wide world audience should vote its conscience with its feet. Rename itself and move somewhere else.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:02 PM on 02/12/2009
- TLaw See Profile I'm a Fan of TLaw permalink

Honestly, nothing that goes on in that country surprises me anymore!

I am absolutely certain that THESE PEOPLE (not just the swiss.) are born inherently evil!

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:43 PM on 02/12/2009
- New lynnn See Profile I'm a Fan of lynnn permalink

Not born that way, around the age of five, though, they are posed by evil spirits! I think water-boarding them can help cure them of their evil. By water-boarding, I mean, dipping them in oil.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:17 PM on 02/12/2009
- balickistan See Profile I'm a Fan of balickistan permalink

these b@st@rds need to be found if this true. enough of the hate. if this wasn't staged, and sadly this happens more often than it should, then hunt these animals down and inflict the same pain. they don't seem to learn so go biblical. when you get the tooth, make a necklace.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:42 PM on 02/12/2009
- dredeize See Profile I'm a Fan of dredeize permalink

I can't see why there is so little traffic or outrage about this post!! Have people lost their sense of humanity?

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:41 PM on 02/12/2009
- research See Profile I'm a Fan of research permalink

yuk, sick.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:35 PM on 02/12/2009
- raaf See Profile I'm a Fan of raaf permalink

If this is true than it's horrible, but better wait before jumping to conclusions.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:19 PM on 02/12/2009
- MaxHeadroom See Profile I'm a Fan of MaxHeadroom permalink

Pigs.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:18 PM on 02/12/2009
- dubster See Profile I'm a Fan of dubster permalink

Wow, this is absolutely repugnant and despicable.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:11 PM on 02/12/2009
- Intelligentia See Profile I'm a Fan of Intelligentia permalink

Wow! The deafening silence on this board! I guess it's okay since we cannot attribute this barbarism to muslims, aka, Islamofacists! Wow!

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:07 PM on 02/12/2009
- papapj See Profile I'm a Fan of papapj permalink

Deafening silence indeed.

The world view of the Swiis is not that of a closed minded society, but having spent a year of my life in the country, as a Black man, I can assure you that there is more than a thin vein of hatred entwined in the Swiss culture.

Xenophobia runs deep in the land of the Alps. Citizenship is nearly impossible to obtain for one not born there and they have an army of foreign workers employed doing jobs that they can't bring themselves to do. These people are regularly monitored and can be shipped back to where they came from at the slightest hint of malfeasance - I know this, I saw it happen.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:56 PM on 02/12/2009
- New lynnn See Profile I'm a Fan of lynnn permalink

She wasn't some foreign worker, she was a lawyer. They had probably done a string of Int'l interviews, and thought she would be the best for the job.

Heck, there are a lot of Americans in law school that would like to work overseas, this could happen to them.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:38 PM on 02/12/2009
- kellygrrrl See Profile I'm a Fan of kellygrrrl permalink

Horrifying! may these animals be brought to the harshest prosecution and punishment.

Condolences to the victim and her family.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:02 PM on 02/12/2009
- discourse jockey See Profile I'm a Fan of discourse jockey permalink

The Swiss are also very anti-Semitic in general.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:01 PM on 02/12/2009
- JonSmiley See Profile I'm a Fan of JonSmiley permalink

Sickening.Truly sickening.

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:48 PM on 02/12/2009
- tlgeiger62 See Profile I'm a Fan of tlgeiger62 permalink

In researching it I found yet another unimaginable horror story ... this woman needs help. Someone must stop this!!! Raped woman, now pregnant, sentence to 1 yr in prison and 100 LASHES FOR ADULTERY!!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1141267/Saudi-judge-sentences-pregnant-gang-rape-victim-100-lashes-committing-adultery.html

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:34 PM on 02/12/2009
- New lynnn See Profile I'm a Fan of lynnn permalink

Yes I saw that on Jezebel, what can we do? I sold my car so I don't buy gas anymore. Remember the Saudi's are our friends!

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:16 PM on 02/12/2009
- raaf See Profile I'm a Fan of raaf permalink

I'm sorry but Saudi-Arabia is our ally, just like Israel and Egypt they can commit whatever human rights violation they want and the US government and media don't really care.

Now if this was happening in Iran...

    Reply    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:23 PM on 02/12/2009
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