Judgment of the Federal Court on the Violation of the Sphere of Secrecy or Privacy through Recording Devices

Facts

The Federal Court dealt with a case in which journalists from Swiss Television SF DRS had recorded a consultation between an insurance advisor and an undercover investigating journalist using a hidden camera and had broadcast excerpts of it in a television program. The lower court had convicted the journalists for violation of the sphere of secrecy or privacy through recording devices (Art. 179quater Swiss Criminal Code).

The appellants, the journalists, argued that their conviction for violation of the sphere of secrecy or privacy violated the principle of accusation, as they had not been charged with such an offense in the indictment. This, they claimed, had also violated their right to be heard and their right of defense.

Considerations

The Federal Court upheld the appeal on this point. It stated that the conviction of the appellants for violation of the sphere of secrecy or privacy through recording devices (Art. 179quater Swiss Criminal Code) violated the principle of accusation, or at least the right to be heard and the right of defense of the appellants, as they had not been charged with such an offense in the indictment.

In all other respects, the Federal Court dismissed the appeal. It denied that the incriminated behavior of the journalists was justified by the extra-legal…