Guy Mettan

Guy Mettan (born 19 November 1956 in Evionnaz) is a Swiss journalist and politician. He was a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland before becoming a member of the Swiss People's Party.[1]

As a journalist Mettan started with Tribune de Genève as an intern[2] and was its director and editor-in-chief from 1992 to 1998.[3] 1997 he co-founded the Geneva Press Club and was executive director until 2019.

In 2001 he was appointed Vice-President of the Swiss-West African Chamber of Commerce.[3] Mettan has been president of the Swiss-Russian Chamber of Commerce since its inception in 2005.[4] From 2006 to 2014 he was President of the Geneva Section of the Red Cross Switzerland.[5] He also served as President of the Grand Council of Geneva[3] and sat for the center there until 2019.[6]

Mettan was awarded the Russian medal of the Order of Friendship in February 2017[4] by President Vladimir Putin.[6] While parliamentary regulations prohibit elected officials from receiving decorations from foreign governments, the Grand Council of Geneva authorised him to receive the medal on a 36-35 vote.[7]

Mettan's journalistic credibility has been questioned on several occasions. In 2017, Reporters Without Borders criticised Mettan for his pro-Russian militancy and for serving as a mouthpiece for Russian propaganda.[6] Florian Irminger, Secretary General of the Swiss Green Party, also called Mettan an apologist for Putin's government.[6] Following Mettan's support for the Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory in a Die Weltwoche essay in 2022, Swiss magazine Republik referred to the article as a "breathtaking compendium" of Russian propaganda.[8]

Personal life

Mettan is married. In 1994, the family adopted a 3-year-old Russian girl, Oxana, from an orphanage in Suzdal. Later, Russian citizenship was granted to Mettan as a result of the adoption due to a decree by the Yeltsin administration.[2]

Books

  • 2004: Genève, ville de paix: de la Conférence de 1954 sur l'Indochine à la coopération internationale
  • 2010: Guy Mettan, Christophe Büchi, Le dictionnaire impertinent de la Suisse
  • 2014: Guy Mettan, François Bugnion, Jean-François Pitteloud, Serge Nessi, Philippe Bender, Serge Bimpag, 150 ans de passion humanitaire, la Croix-Rouge genevoise de 1864 à 2014, Genève, Slatkine, ISBN 9782832106044
  • 2017: Creating Russophobia: From the Great Religious Schism to Anti-Putin Hysteria
    • 2016: (Italian language edition) Russofobia. Mille anni di diffidenza

References

  1. ↑ Moskau zahlt für Propaganda in der Schweiz, Tages-Anzeiger, February 11th page 4 (title from the printed edition)
  2. 1 2 Mettan, Guy, Creating Russophobia..., Foreword
  3. 1 2 3 "PIR Center". pircenter.org. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  4. 1 2 "La médaille ou le parlement? Un dilemme pour Guy Mettan". Tribune de Genève (in French). 29 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "METTAN, Guy". TaxCOOP. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Rocchi, Ludovic (29 November 2017). "Guy Mettan à nouveau accusé de servir de relais à la propagande russe". RTS (in French).
  7. ↑ "Le député genevois Guy Mettan autorisé à être décoré par la Russie". RTS (in French). 24 February 2017.
  8. ↑ Binswanger, Daniel (9 April 2022). "Die Wahrheit über Butscha". Republik (in German).
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