Facts
On 24 February 2020, the Emmental-Oberaargau Public Prosecutor's Office issued a summary penalty order against [A.] for violations of the Road Traffic Act. [A.] , who is a French native speaker and grew up and resides in Geneva, unsuccessfully requested on 12 March 2020 for the summary penalty order to be translated into French. He then filed an objection to the summary penalty order on 19 March 2020.
The Public Prosecutor's Office considered the objection to be late and referred it to the Regional Court on 8 April 2020 to decide on the validity. The Regional Court did not enter into the objection on 14 July 2020 due to the delay. The accused's appeal against this decision to the Cantonal High Court of Bern was also dismissed on 31 August 2020.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Cantonal High Court and remanded the case for re-assessment to the lower instance. It concluded that the appellant must not suffer any legal disadvantage from the legally erroneous instructions on legal remedies in the summary penalty order.
The Federal Supreme Court stated that, according to Art. 68 para. 2 CrimPC, the criminal prosecution authorities are obliged to communicate the essential content of the most important procedural acts to the accused person in…