Facts
This case concerned the distribution of costs in criminal proceedings for a simple traffic violation. The appellant, [X.] , was initially convicted by a summary penalty order of the Regional Public Prosecutor's Office Bern-Mittelland. He filed an objection to the summary penalty order but failed to appear without excuse at the scheduled main hearing dates. As a result, the summary penalty order became legally binding. [X.] filed a request for restoration, which was rejected by the Regional Court. [X.] appealed this decision to the Cantonal Court of Bern, which revoked the cost order against [X.] for the restoration proceedings and imposed the costs on the Canton of Bern. The Attorney General's Office of the Canton of Bern appealed against this decision to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the Cantonal Court had violated federal law by considering Art. 417 CrimPC as inapplicable. This provision allows the costs for a specific procedural act that a party has unnecessarily caused by violating their procedural obligations to be imposed on that party, regardless of the outcome of the proceedings and regardless of any fault. In the present case, there…