Facts
By judgment of January 25, 2018, the Police Court of the Republic and Canton of Geneva convicted V., W., U. and X. of theft, unauthorized use of a vehicle and misleading the authorities, as well as of receiving stolen goods in the case of the last two. It also convicted Y. and Z. of theft. The court apportioned the court costs and the compensation awarded to A. and B. as costs proportionally among the defendants.
A. and B. filed a criminal appeal to the Federal Tribunal against this decision, primarily concluding that V., U., W., X., Y. and Z. be ordered, jointly and severally, to pay the compensation of 100,000 francs.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal dismissed the appeal. It considered that when the judge distributes the procedural costs proportionally among several defendants pursuant to Art. 418 para. 1 CrimPC, the compensation awarded to the complainant under Art. 433 CrimPC must be distributed in the same proportions.
Although Art. 418 CrimPC expressly mentions only the costs, this provision must be interpreted as also applying to the compensation, in accordance with the systematics of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The link…