Suspension of criminal proceedings (Switzerland)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Swiss criminal law and Swiss military criminal law, the termination of criminal proceedings is the conclusion of an investigation procedure by decision of the public prosecutor's office.

Civil Code of Criminal Procedure

According to Art. 319 para. 1 StPO, the public prosecutor's office orders the complete or partial suspension of the proceedings if

  • no suspicion has been substantiated that justifies a charge;
  • no criminal offense is fulfilled;
  • Grounds for justification make a criminal offense inapplicable;
  • Process prerequisites definitely cannot be met or process obstacles have occurred;
  • law enforcement or punishment can be dispensed with in accordance with statutory provisions.

According to Art. 319, Paragraph 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the public prosecutor may, as an exception, suspend the proceedings if

  • the interest of a victim who was less than 18 years old at the time of the crime requires it and this interest obviously outweighs the interest of the state in prosecution and
  • the victim or, in the event of incapacity, his or her legal representative consents to the appointment.

The parties can contest the cessation order within 10 days at the appellate authority (Art 322 para. 2 StPO).

The public prosecutor's office orders the resumption of proceedings that have been legally terminated by a discontinuation order if it becomes aware of new evidence or facts that

  • speak for a criminal liability of the accused and
  • do not arise from the earlier files (Art 323 StPO).

Military criminal law

After a preliminary examination conducted by the examining magistrate , the proceedings can be discontinued if

  • the behavior that has been proven to the accused is only a so-called light case and such is provided for by law (in this case, a disciplinary penalty, such as an arrest penalty , is issued),
  • the matter cannot be pursued further (for example if the behavior is not at all criminal) or
  • there is a combination of these constellations (in other words, one fact is considered an easy case and the matter cannot be pursued further with regard to another).

The discontinuation order is based on Art. 116 of the Military Criminal Procedure of March 23, 1979 (MStP; SR 322.1). The auditor ( public prosecutor for military justice ) is responsible for issuing a discontinuation order . The discontinuation order must be issued in writing . Military criminal proceedings do not have an informal attitude. For reasons of preservation of evidence, the delivery takes place by means of a court document or registered mail.

The federal government bears the costs of the discontinued examination . In particular, the auditor can impose reduced costs of the examination on the person punished by discipline (Art. 117 Para. 1 MStP). The legal remedy against a discontinuation order is determined by Art. 118 MStP. If the behavior in question is punishable and it is not an easy case, a penalty mandate must be issued or, if necessary, an indictment brought to the military court.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cédric Müller: Discontinuation of the proceedings by the public prosecutor's office at the University of Zurich, 2016