Publication of Official Secret Proceedings (Art. 293 Swiss Criminal Code)

Facts

The journalist [X.] was fined 800 Swiss francs by the district administration office of the Zurich district for the publication of official secret proceedings (Art. 293 Swiss Criminal Code) by a penal order dated March 11, 2013. [X.] had quoted passages from the still confidential final report of the Zurich Parliamentary Investigative Commission (PUK) on the Zurich Cantonal Civil Servants' Insurance Fund (BVK) in two newspaper articles.

[X.] was acquitted by the District Court of Zurich. The Office of the Attorney General of the Canton of Zurich then filed an appeal in criminal matters with the Federal Supreme Court.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the elements of the offense of publication of official secret proceedings (Art. 293 Swiss Criminal Code) were fulfilled. The PUK report had been declared secret, and this declaration of secrecy was objectively justified.

However, the Federal Supreme Court denied the existence of the extra-statutory justification ground of safeguarding legitimate interests. While the lower court had affirmed the concrete public interest in a pre-publication, as it was feared that certain events might no longer be included in the final report and/or its publication might be delayed, the Federal Supreme Court considered these concerns to be mere speculation. The public interest in being informed about excerpts from the…