Facts
The case concerns the admissibility of audio recordings made by the victim [A.] without the consent of the appellant [X.] . [X.] is accused of having committed numerous sexual acts to the detriment of his stepdaughter [A.] from October 2006 to March 2012.
The District Court of Zurich had partially acquitted [X.] , in particular of the charge of multiple rape and multiple sexual acts with a child. On appeal by the private plaintiff and the public prosecutor's office, however, the High Court of the Canton of Zurich convicted [X.] of multiple rape, multiple sexual acts with children, multiple sexual acts with dependents, multiple attempted coercion, and violation of the Weapons Act.
[X.] appeals in criminal matters and requests that the judgment of the High Court be set aside with regard to the charge of multiple rape and multiple sexual acts with children and remanded to the lower court for reassessment.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal. It holds that privately obtained unlawful evidence is only admissible if the criminal prosecution authorities could have lawfully obtained it and if the balancing of interests speaks in favor of its admissibility.
In the present case, the criminal prosecution authorities could have lawfully obtained the audio recordings, as there was a strong suspicion of…