Facts
This case involved the allegation of multiple coercion against two federal judges by the defendant [A.] . The Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office appealed the acquittal of the defendant by the Federal Criminal Court.
The defendant had, in the period from 2002 to 2006, severely attacked, insulted, and demanded the resignation of the two federal judges [X.] and [Y.] in letters, treatises, and protest actions. He also carried out protest actions in front of their private homes, sometimes spending the entire night in front of the houses and obstructing the federal judges when entering or leaving their homes.
The Federal Criminal Court acquitted the defendant of the charge of coercion, as it did not consider the requirements of the offense of coercion under Art. 181 of the Swiss Criminal Code (StGB) to be fulfilled. The Federal Prosecutor's Office challenged the acquittal with regard to the protest actions in front of the private homes and the incident in the city center of Lausanne.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court confirmed the acquittal of the defendant. It stated that the defendant's behavior could be classified as so-called "stalking" (compulsive pursuit), but the intensity of the impairment of the federal judges did not quite reach the threshold of significance required for the offense of coercion.
Although the federal judges were very unpleasantly disturbed in…