Dismissal of the complaint against the ruling of the Appenzell Ausserrhoden Court of Appeal regarding the refusal of free legal aid and the failure to consider the complaint

Facts

The complainant [A.] was summoned by the Judicial Secretariat of the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden with an enforcement order of 25 May 2018 to serve a substitute prison sentence. [A.] appealed against the summons to serve the sentence. The proceedings were suspended and resumed by the Department of the Interior and Security of the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden (DIS) on 22 December 2020. With the resumption, the DIS dismissed [A.] 's appeal and ordered that the prison sentence of ten days be served within a period of 14 days from the date of the ruling, at 9:00 a.m., in the Gmünden prison.

[A.] lodged a complaint with the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden against this ruling. On 5 February 2021, he also submitted a request to the Court of Appeal for free legal aid. The Court of Appeal dismissed [A.] 's request for free legal aid with a ruling of 30 March 2021. On 28 May 2021, it requested him to pay an advance of CHF 800.-- for the costs of the complaint proceedings and threatened that if this deadline was not met, the complaint would not be considered. With a ruling of 21 June 2021, the Court of Appeal did not consider the complaint.

[A.] lodges a complaint with the FSCA against the Court of Appeal's rulings of 30 March, 28 May, and 21 June 2021. He requests that the rulings be fully annulled. He should be granted free legal aid for the cantonal proceedings. Alternatively, the matter should be referred back for reconsideration in accordance with the reasoning. The complaint should be granted suspensive effect. In addition, he also requests free legal aid for the FSCA proceedings.

Considerations

The FSCA has dismissed the complaint against the ruling of the Appenzell Ausserrhoden Court of Appeal regarding the refusal of free legal aid and the failure to consider the complaint. The complaint against the ruling of 30 March 2021 was late, as the 30-day complaint period was not observed. The complainant had not plausibly demonstrated that he was prevented from meeting the deadline through no fault of his own.

The…