Facts
On December 4, 2017, the Criminal Court of the Canton of Basel-Stadt found [A.A.] guilty of neglect of maintenance obligations and sentenced him to a total sentence of 400 hours of community service. [A.A.] appealed against this judgment.
On February 12, 2018, [A.A.] and [A.B.] were divorced by the Civil Court of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. On the same day, they concluded an agreement on the ancillary consequences of the divorce. In this agreement, [A.A.] undertook to pay [A.B.] a certain post-marital maintenance allowance and an amount within the framework of the property settlement for a limited period of time. [A.B.] undertook to communicate her lack of interest in the ongoing criminal proceedings against [A.A.] regarding the neglect of maintenance obligations to the Court of Appeal and the Public Prosecutor's Office and to refrain from initiating further criminal proceedings against [A.A.] in the event of payment arrears.
However, [A.B.] refused to submit a declaration of lack of interest to the Court of Appeal.
On April 30, 2019, the Court of Appeal of Basel-Stadt found [A.A.] guilty of neglect of maintenance obligations, declared the conditionally imposed fine enforceable, and sentenced him to a total sentence of 400 hours of community service.
[A.A.] filed a criminal complaint, requesting that the judgment of the Court of Appeal be set aside and that the criminal proceedings against him for neglect of maintenance obligations be discontinued due to a declaration of lack of interest or withdrawal of the criminal complaint.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that the criminal complaint has not lapsed in the present case, as the respondent 2 ([A.B.] ) refused to submit a declaration of lack of interest. It must be examined whether the respondent 2 is acting in an abusive manner by refusing to declare her lack of…