Facts
The appellant [A.] was convicted by the District Court of Kreuzlingen for multiple qualified offenses against the Narcotics Act, incitement to robbery, multiple attempted qualified extortion, attempted extortion, qualified promotion of unlawful entry and exit as well as unlawful stay (so-called "human smuggling"), coercion, violation of the Weapons Act, property damage and gross violation of traffic regulations to a custodial sentence of 14 years. He was acquitted of the charge of participation in a homicide and certain other charges. Both the appellant and the public prosecutor appealed against the judgment of the District Court. The appellant requested acquittal, while the public prosecutor requested additional convictions on further charges as well as an increase in the sentence and the imposition of preventive detention. On December 17, 2019, the High Court of the Canton of Thurgau dismissed the appellant's request for release from early execution of sentence and instead ordered his transfer to preventive detention.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court first finds that the assumption of a risk of flight as a special ground for detention by the lower court is in accordance with federal law. The lower court has substantiated the risk of flight in detail and in a comprehensible manner. In particular, it refers to the threatening long custodial sentence of 14 years, the lack of social ties of the appellant to Switzerland, a previous escape attempt, and his refractory behavior in the execution of the sentence. The rejection of a release from detention subject to alternative measures also proves to be in accordance with federal law, as even a combination of alternative measures such as confiscation of passport, reporting requirement and electronic monitoring would not be sufficient given the established significant risk of flight. However, the Federal Supreme Court finds that the lower court has violated the appellant's right to be heard by not sufficiently justifying the question of whether the risk of flight could be countered by alternative measures. The…