Brazil in Switzerland

Brazil is all over the news in Switzerland. The Brazilian lawyer Paula Oliveira told police three neo-Nazists attacked her at the Stettbach train station, in Zurich, on February 9. She had cuts all over her body and said to have had a miscarriage.

Ten days later, the police is saying she admitted making false accusations. According to the Public Prosecutor's office of Zurich, the Brazilian explained she wasn't a victim of a racist attack and that she cut herself to simulate the violence. Besides that, she admitted that she wasn't expecting twins.

Pictures showed her stomach and legs with over 100 cuts, and the initials of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) carved into her body. The party has taken a strong position against immigrants and wants to make it easier to expel foreign nationals. The party has never been linked to neo-nazis, though.

Zurich University forensic medicine chief, Walter Baer, said "any experienced forensic doctor would not hesitate to assume that this was a case of self-infliction". All of the wounds were reachable by hand, and none were severe, he affirmed.

Why would one do something like that? That's what the police wants to know. If guilty, she can get till three years in prison. According to the Swedish newspapers, if the whole neo-Nazi attack and miscarriage history was true, she could sue and receive between 40 and 80 thousand dollars. She was indicted for false report of a crime and had her passport confiscated. Paula can't leave the country till the investigations are over.

Her lawyer has three strategies of defense, one of them is that she has lupus, a disease that could cause psycological problems.