Swiss To Absolve Europe's Last Witch

Europe's last witch will soon be exonerated thanks to a decision by the parliament of the Swiss canton Glarus, 225 years after authorities decapitated her.

Anna Goeldi was suspected of hiding needles in the food of children in a Glarus family where she worked as a maid. She was arrested, tortured to obtain confessions, and eventually executed in 1782. "This was clearly a misjudgment," the secretary of the Glarus Parliament, Josef Schwitter, said in a telephone interview yesterday. The motion passed at a Parliament session on Wednesday, with 37 deputies in favor and 29 against, he said.

The Glarus Parliament approved the bill over opposition from the government, which favored more lasting "scientific memory work" rather than a "punctual, solemn apology." Proponents said rehabilitation was needed as a "symbolic act of historical responsibility," referring to one the "bleakest chapters" of the canton's history, letters exchanged between the Glarus government and Parliament show.