Facts
On 27 September 2006, Ms. X filed a criminal complaint with the Zurich City Police against her former partner Roland Nef, among other things for coercion. Criminal proceedings against Roland Nef were initiated at the Zurich-Limmat Public Prosecutor's Office and transferred to Prosecutor I of the Canton of Zurich. She discontinued the proceedings by order of 23 October 2007. In July and August 2008, Axel Springer Schweiz AG, Weltwoche Verlags AG, and journalists Dominique Strebel and Alex Baur applied for access to the dismissal order of 23 October 2007. By order of 15 December 2008, Prosecutor I partially granted these applications, ordering that the dismissal order be handed over to the applicants with anonymization of all personal details of the complainant and redaction of Consideration 7 and Point 3 of the operative part of the order. Roland Nef appealed against this decision to the Office of the Attorney General of the Canton of Zurich, which upheld the appeal and prohibited the release of the dismissal order. The media then turned to the Federal Supreme Court.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court is of the opinion that the principle of public administration of justice enshrined in Art. 30 para. 3 Cst. concretizes the media's right to information under Art. 16 para. 3 Cst. in the area of court proceedings. This principle also applies to dismissals under Art. 53 SCC, where the accused person acknowledges the violation of the norm and a prosecution could lead to a conviction.
In the present case, the media's legitimate interest in information arises from their control function, particularly with regard to the circumstances that led to Roland Nef's…