justice

Swiss Court: ‘Hetero’ Arab Sheikh Al-Nahyan Is Responsible For Public Belt Whipping Of Silvano Orsi

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Seven years after American Silvano Orsi claimed Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, a royal sheikh of the United Arab Emirates (aka The Straight Sheikh), belt whipped him in a public restaurant at a five-star hotel in Geneva after Orsi refused Al-Nahyan’s attempts to buy him champagne, a Swiss court ruled in favor of Orsi — and contradicted a 2009 appeals court decision that claimed the leather belt was “not a dangerous instrument.”

In 2003, Al-Nahyan tried sending over a bottle of bubbly to Rochester native, who declined. So Al-Nahyan allegedly came over, sat on Orsi’s lap and began fondling him. Orsi tried to escape his advances, and Al-Nahyan wasn’t having it, taking his belt to Orsi’s face, head, and body. In 2008, a court ruled against Al-Nahyan and ordered him to pay a paltry 10,000 Swiss francs — but that decision was overturned.

(Worth noting: Al-Nahyan is one of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan’s brothers, and is also the brother to Sheikh Issa Al-Nahyan, who was videotaped torturing an Afghani man.)

But now, according to a tipster with direct knowledge of the proceedings, Switzerland’s Tribunal Administratif Federal (TAF) clarified the “dangerousness of the belt-whipping” and “illicit conduct” issues, deciding Al-Nahyan is indeed responsible for Orsi’s injuries, which left him unable to work during 2003-2005. Orsi is also entitled to receive insurance benefits from Geneva.

Meanwhile, Orsi has filed a new civil case in Geneva against both Al-Nahyan and Raouf Finan, director of La Reserve Hotel where the incident took place.

[This post original stated the new ruling “reversed” the 2009 judgment. It did not. The 2009 ruling was a criminal matter; this is a civil one.]