Facts
The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Basel-Stadt is conducting criminal proceedings against [A.] for multiple counts of affray and, alternatively, breach of the peace. [A.] appointed Attorney Eva Schürmann as his private defense counsel. However, the Public Prosecutor's Office rejected [A.] 's request for the appointment of court-appointed defense counsel. [A.] appealed this decision to the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, which also dismissed his legal remedy.
[A.] then filed a criminal law appeal to the Federal Supreme Court. He requested that court-appointed defense counsel be granted to him retroactively from February 28, 2019. Alternatively, the case should be remanded to the lower instance for the appointment of court-appointed defense counsel.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that in the case of mandatory defense under Art. 130 CCP, the accused person must generally have private defense counsel. If such private defense counsel already exists, the requirements for court-appointed defense counsel under Art. 132 para. 1 lit. b CCP are only met if the accused person is indigent and the defense is necessary to safeguard their interests.
In the present case, [A.] had appointed private defense counsel, but did not disclose his financial circumstances. Therefore, his request for court-appointed defense…