Facts
The appellant [X.] was convicted by the Regional Court of Bern-Mittelland of intentional homicide committed in excess of self-defense, affray, assault, and violations of the Weapons Act, and sentenced to a custodial sentence of 11 years and 7 months. On appeal by the accused and cross-appeal by the private plaintiff [A.A.] , the Cantonal Court of Bern found [X.] guilty of intentional homicide committed in excess of self-defense, affray, and assault, and sentenced him to a custodial sentence of 8 years and a fine of 106 daily penalty units.
[X.] filed a criminal law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court, requesting that the contested judgment be annulled and that he be fully acquitted. Alternatively, he requested that he be sentenced to a partially suspended custodial sentence of a maximum of 3 years for the homicide offense and a partially suspended fine of a maximum of 240 daily penalty units for the other offenses, with credit for the 326 days of pre-trial detention served. Subsidiarily, he requested that the case be remanded to the lower court for a new decision.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court partially upheld the appeal, to the extent that it was admissible. It annulled the judgment of the Cantonal Court of Bern and remanded the case to the lower court for the proper conduct of the appeal hearing.
The Federal Supreme Court reasoned that the lower court had neither questioned the appellant about his person nor about the case during the oral appeal hearing. This constituted a violation of essential procedural provisions, regardless of the fact that the appellant had been questioned multiple times during the investigation and extensively questioned about his person and the case in the first-instance proceedings. The requirement of Art. 341 para. 3…