Facts
The case concerns the admissibility of a video recording taken by a surveillance camera of the Israelite Community of Basel, which captured a traffic situation on a public street. The appellant [A.] was found guilty by the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Basel-Stadt of a serious violation of traffic regulations, after he allegedly disregarded a right-of-way marking and failed to see a cyclist.
[A.] filed a criminal appeal with the Federal Supreme Court, requesting that the judgment of the Court of Appeal be overturned and that he be acquitted of guilt and punishment. He argued that the video recording was unlawfully obtained, as the Israelite Community of Basel, as a public law entity, had not issued the required regulation for the video surveillance system in accordance with the provisions of the cantonal Information and Data Protection Act (IDG/BS) at the time of the incident.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court upheld the appeal. It stated that the video recording was made in violation of the validity provisions of the IDG/BS, as there was no required regulation for the video surveillance system at the time of the offense. Contrary to the view of the Court of Appeal, it was irrelevant how serious the infringement of the appellant's privacy was. The decisive factor was that the video recording was made in disregard of the principles of the rule of law.
The Federal Supreme Court further stated…