Facts
The appellant [A.] was convicted by the High Court of the Canton of Zurich for unlawful receipt of social insurance or social assistance benefits (Art. 148a SCC) and sentenced to 115 days' imprisonment and expelled from the country for 5 years. The appellant requests that he be punished with a fine in a minor case and that the expulsion from the country be waived. He does not dispute that he received social assistance from January 2018 to August 2018, although he had been expelled from Switzerland due to the revocation of his residence permit as of December 31, 2017.
The lower court convicted the appellant based on the fact that he had received social assistance for eight months, although he was no longer entitled to it. The appellant had not informed the social services about the revocation of his residence permit and had thus wrongly received around CHF 23,000 in social assistance.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court examined whether a minor case of unlawful social assistance receipt existed within the meaning of Art. 148a para. 2 SCC. It found that the appellant had shown low criminal energy through his behavior and that his motives and goals were not comprehensible. The court found that the appellant had deceived the social services by concealing his expulsion and had thus fulfilled the elements of Art. 148a para. 1 SCC.
The Federal Supreme Court pointed out that…