Another year has gone by and it’s time to take stock. Once again, I carried out many exciting and interesting interpretation and translation assignments; quite often, I would find articles in the press about the court cases at which I had interpreted. Among others, I had the honour to interpret for Clauda Pechstein in the context of the anti-dope proceedings initiated against her. Her case is going to rewrite the history of the fight against doping, because, as of now, the burden of proof is going to be with the accused athlete.
Source: Focus.de
Other cases included a fraudster pretending to pay out Spanish lottery wins, a Bernese policeman allegedly using force against a black African detainee and a man knowingly infecting his partner with HIV. In Brussels, things were pretty quiet this year due to the European elections. During the Czech presidency of the European Union there were a few ‘scandals’, in the first semester, which were caused, among others, by the controversial EU work of art entitled ‘Entropa’, produced by Czech artist David Cerny, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropa) and exhibited at the European Council building, the collapse of the Czech government in March, in the middle of the Czech presidency, and the provocation of EU Members of Parliament and delay tactics employed by Czech President Vaclav Klaus. The European Parliament, in its new composition (incarnation?), is only now beginning to get back into full swing… After relaxing at home with my family over Christmas and enjoying a few days without work, things will pick up again in January with, (among others), the Solothurn Film Festival, which starts on 22 January and will, as every year, feature a variety of interesting films and documentaries. Finally, I’d like to thank both my customers and colleagues for their excellent co-operation and wish all of you lots of success in the New Year!