Swiss banker who turned to WikiLeaks goes on trial

ZURICH — A Swiss banker who claims to have handed WikiLeaks details of rich tax evaders went on trial Wednesday to answer charges of coercion and breaking Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws. Zurich prosecutors claim Rudolf Elmer stole client data after being sacked by his employer, Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, and then tried to extort money from the bank and senior executives. Prosecutor Alexandra Bergmann also alleges that Elmer illegally gave details on the bank's offshore clients to tax authorities and media. The case has generated intense interest abroad because of the link to WikiLeaks, and in Switzerland, where bank client privacy has a special place in the national psyche. Prosecutors are calling for an eight-month suspended sentence and fine for what Julius Baer says was a vendetta by a disgruntled employee against it. Elmer claims he was trying to expose a widespread system of tax evasion by rich businesspeople and politicians. Elmer's actions caused a U.S. judge to shut down WikiLeaks for two weeks in early 2008, marking the only time that the secrecy-spilling website has been forced offline for a significant amount of time. Since then, WikiLeaks has shot into public consciousness for publishing thousands of secret U.S. military and diplomatic files. U.S. authorities are currently trying to build a legal case against WikiLeaks and some of its collaborators, claiming the release of the files puts lives at risk. Appearing before a single judge at Zurich's administrative court, Elmer admitted sending threatening messages to some bank officials, but insisted he had done so after the bank fired him from his job at its Cayman Islands branch and then intimidated him. "I was in an extreme situation," he said. "It's logical that I developed a defense strategy." The trial continues. — AP