American Alleges Assault By UAE Sheik

Switzerland Bar Fight Sparked After He Was Called 'Gay,' Sheik Says

(AP) 
After hotel staff and others intervened, taking him into a side room, Orsi said he was getting first aid for a deep cut over his left eye and welts on his arms and back when the man appeared again and flailed at him with his belt, then did the same a third time after Orsi retreated to the reception desk.

By this time, with private bodyguards appearing, Orsi suspected he had run into "maybe some personality." He was told the man was a son of Emirates ruler Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Sheik Fallah's elder brother, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was appointed president when their father died in November 2004.

Sheik Fallah, 35, was charged in November with suspicion of assault with a dangerous instrument, which carries a maximum three-year prison sentence.

According to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press, the sheik said at a March 13 hearing in Geneva magistrate Yves Aeschlimann's office that he was annoyed when Orsi refused the champagne but confronted him "after I was called gay."

The sheik said he and Orsi grabbed and shook each other violently for about 30 seconds before his bodyguards intervened. He claimed he took off his belt because Orsi "is bigger than me" and "I was just at the very point of striking him with my belt but we were separated."

Defense attorney Marco Crisante said attorneys must submit their witness lists by April 30. He expects the magistrate will decide in either May or June whether there is enough evidence of wrongdoing to turn the case over to a state prosecutor, who would then decide whether or not the sheik should stand trial.

"Justice will do its job," said Crisante, declining to discuss specifics of the case. "I prefer keeping all my opinions for the (judge)."

Calls to the press office at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington were not returned.

Likening his ordeal to "a horror movie," Orsi said he sustained a herniated disk, nerve damage in his right leg and post-traumatic stress disorder. He provided a letter from an American doctor in Rome who certified him as "100 percent disabled" pending surgery that could cost up to $80,000.

Orsi said he moved to Geneva in 2000 to become head of international operations at Swisscom after working in a similar job in Rome for three years. In 2002, he joined a telecommunications consulting firm that dealt with chiefly Middle Eastern clients.

Orsi moved back to Rome in late 2003 after allegedly being confronted at a restaurant by associates of the sheik who threatened to shoot him if he didn't drop his complaint.

Returning home last summer, Orsi said he discovered he wasn't eligible for health disability benefits because he hasn't worked in the United States for 10 years. He appealed to the Bush administration to "provide me proper aid and medical treatment" and to seek an explanation and an apology from the Emirates.

When the criminal proceeding wraps up, Orsi plans to sue the sheik and the hotel for unspecified damages.

"The boy is depressed right now," said his father, Silvano Orsi Sr., a retired General Motors worker who emigrated from Italy in 1965. "We feel very bad because he is a very bright guy, very handsome, very nice person. We are a good family and this is a big thing for us."

"This has ruined my life," his son raged. "I have to defend myself, no one else is doing it for me."