Validity of an objection to a summary penalty order in the absence of a translation of the operative part

Facts

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Basel-Stadt issued a summary penalty order against [A.] on 19 May 2016 for forgery of identity documents and unlawful entry. The summary penalty order was written in German, although [A.] only speaks French. [A.] filed an objection to the summary penalty order on 3 June 2019. The Criminal Court found that the objection was validly filed. The Public Prosecutor's Office then filed an appeal, as a result of which the Court of Appeal declared the summary penalty order to be legally binding. [A.] filed a criminal law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court sets aside the decision of the Court of Appeal and remands the case to the Criminal Court for the main proceedings to be conducted. Pursuant to Article 68(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the essential content of the most important procedural acts, such as the operative part of the summary penalty order, must be translated into a language that the accused person can understand. The information sheet "Information for foreign language speakers" mentioned by the lower court does not meet the legal requirements, as it only contains general information about the summary penalty order procedure, but no translation of the specific operative part.

Since [A.] only speaks French and the summary penalty order was not translated, she cannot be accused of gross…