Facts
The Public Prosecutor's Office of Basel-Stadt opened criminal proceedings in 2003 against [X.] for commercial fraudulent misuse of a data processing system and other offences. [X.] was convicted in absentia in 2012 and filed an appeal. His defence counsel, Advocate Markus Wick, attended the appeal hearing, but [X.] himself did not appear. The Basel-Stadt Appellate Court then declared the appeal as settled, as [X.] had failed to attend the hearing without excuse and had not been represented.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court set aside the judgment of the Appellate Court and remanded the case for a new decision to the lower instance. It found that the Appellate Court had violated federal law by assuming a withdrawal of the appeal, even though Advocate Markus Wick, as the officially appointed mandatory defence counsel, had participated in the appeal hearing.
According to the case law of the Federal Supreme Court, in the case of a mandatory defence, which must be granted until the conclusion of the…