Facts
A. traveled to Switzerland on March 27, 2017 together with another person at the Ramsen border crossing. During the inspection of his car, among other things, 200 g of a white substance and approximately 1,600 pills were found. A. was arrested and on March 30, 2017, the Compulsory Measures Court of Schaffhausen placed him in pre-trial detention on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Act. The detention was subsequently extended several times.
By judgment of June 1, 2018, the Cantonal Court of Schaffhausen found A. guilty of simple and qualified violation of the Narcotics Act, promotion of unlawful entry and unlawful stay, as well as multiple violations of the Narcotics Act. It sentenced him, as an additional penalty to a custodial sentence of 6 months imposed by the Tribunal de police de Lausanne on August 9, 2017, to 26 months' imprisonment and a fine of CHF 300. It credited 432 days of pre-trial and security detention against the sentence. Furthermore, it ordered the extension of the security detention until the judgment became legally binding or until the commencement of a custodial sanction, but no later than November 30, 2018. A. was also expelled from the country for 5 years.
A. appealed against the judgment. On September 17, 2018, A. was granted early execution of the sentence. By submission of January 24, 2019, he filed a request for release, which the High Court of the Canton of Schaffhausen dismissed by order of February 13, 2019.
By criminal complaint to the Federal Supreme Court of March 11, 2019, A. requested that the order of the High Court be set aside and that he be released from early execution of the sentence.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the complaint.
Pursuant to Art. 31 para. 3 of the Federal Constitution and Art. 5 para. 3 of the ECHR, a person held in criminal detention has the right to be tried within a reasonable time or to be released during the criminal proceedings. An excessive duration of detention constitutes a disproportionate restriction of this fundamental right. Under Art. 212 para. 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code, pre-trial and security detention may not last longer than the expected custodial sentence, and it should already be avoided that the duration of detention approaches the expected custodial sentence.
The High Court had justified the rejection of the request for release from early execution of the sentence by stating that the detention already served did not exceed the duration of the custodial sentence imposed and that a speedy decision could be expected in view of the upcoming appeal hearing. Furthermore, in assessing proportionality, the possibility of conditional release from the custodial sentence after serving two-thirds of the sentence should only be taken into…