Facts
Journalist [X.] wrote a newspaper article in which he quoted verbatim statements made by the Head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police (EJPD) and two members of the National Council at a meeting of the EJPD/BK Subcommission of the Control Committee of the National Council on 17 February 2009. The meeting discussed, among other things, the expert report on the use of resources by the federal criminal authorities, in particular administrative measures such as the introduction of performance and time recording for the Federal Prosecutor's Office.
The High Court of the Canton of Zurich found [X.] guilty of publishing official secret proceedings (Art. 293 para. 1 SCC) and fined him 400 Swiss francs. [X.] appealed the judgment in criminal matters to the Federal Supreme Court, requesting that the judgment be overturned and that he be acquitted.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court adheres to its established case law, according to which the offence of publishing official secret proceedings (Art. 293 SCC) is based on a formal concept of secrecy. The decisive factor is solely that the files, proceedings or investigations have been declared secret by law or by decision of the authorities. The Federal Supreme Court is bound by this declaration of secrecy and cannot review its reasonableness.
The Parliamentary Act (ParlG) provides in Art. 47 para. 1 that the deliberations of the committees are confidential. This federal statutory provision is authoritative for the Federal Supreme Court and other legal practitioners. The appellant has, without being entitled to do so, made public something from a proceeding declared secret by federal law, thereby fulfilling the elements of Art. 293 para. 1 SCC.
Even if a material concept of secrecy were to be applied to Art. 293 SCC, the…