Withdrawal of an appeal tainted by defects of consent

Facts

In this case, the District Court of Zurich convicted X. of qualified money laundering, several qualified offences under the Narcotics Act, and failure to keep accounts. Both X. and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Zurich appealed this judgment. However, by email dated 27 May 2014, the Public Prosecutor's Office and X. both withdrew their appeals. The High Court then closed the proceedings due to the withdrawal of the appeals.

X. filed a criminal appeal, requesting the annulment of the decision of the High Court of 28 May 2014 and the remand of the case to the previous instance for the continuation of the appeal proceedings.

Considerations

According to case law, the withdrawal of an appeal must be clear, explicit and unconditional. However, the withdrawal of the appeal may be subject to the condition that the opposing party also withdraws its appeal.

The withdrawal of the appeal is in principle final, unless the party has been misled, victim of a criminal offence or erroneous information from the authorities (Art. 386 para. 3 CrimPC). The defects of consent must be demonstrated by the party who invokes them. Although revision is not admissible against the decision to close the…