By Our Foreign Staff
12/06/2008
Swiss authorities are preparing to exonerate the last woman in Europe to be executed for witchcraft.
Anna Goeldi, a maid in the small alpine region of Glarus, was beheaded in 1782 for being a witch after she confessed under torture to conversing with the devil and poisoning the daughter of the house.
But her name could now be cleared following a decision yesterday by local lawmakers to recommend a reversal of the conviction.
Campaigners claim she was the victim of a conspiracy between the eastern town's judical and Protestant church authorities.
Goeldi was employed by the family of a rich married politician, who after having an affair with her denounced her for witchcraft claiming she made his daughter spit pins and suffer convulsions.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2110937/Europe%27s-last-executed-witch-to-be-cleared.html