Swiss president: Gaffe was slip of tongue

BERN, Switzerland, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The president of Switzerland says that a question that seemed to conflate a Nazi doctor with a right-wing Swiss leader was a lapse of memory.

Swiss President Pascal Couchepin told reporters Thursday that he wasn't trying to insult Christoph Morgeli, a leader of the Swiss People's Party, or to make a joke, Swissinfo reported.

The gaffe occurred during a closed parliamentary committee meeting. Couchepin said he was discussing the need for a strong law on research into human genetics and turned to a neighbor for help with the name of Dr. Josef Mengele, notorious for his research on Nazi concentration camp inmates.

This was Couchepin's description of the exchange: "What was the name of the monster of Auschwitz? Morgele?" His neighbor replied: "No, Mengele."

"I don't think I smiled," he said. "I saw someone smile and I said it was not a laughing matter. It's serious."

Morgeli, who was not at the meeting, said he doesn't accept Couchepin's version of events.