Facts
The respondent [X.] was acquitted by the High Court of the Canton of Zurich of the charge of multiple violations of the Narcotics Act. The Office of the Attorney General of the Canton of Zurich filed an appeal in criminal matters against this decision.
The respondent was accused of having acquired approximately 180 grams of cocaine from a third party in a restaurant in Zurich on April 3, 2008, and of having offered it for sale to an alleged interested party, who was in fact an officer of the Zurich City Police (Charge A). He was also accused of having previously sold approximately 72 to 78 grams of a cocaine mixture to various buyers (Charge B) and of having consumed an indeterminate amount of cocaine and marijuana approximately three times a week from early 2007 to April 3, 2008 (Charge C).
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court upholds its case law from BGE 134 IV 266, according to which any establishment of contacts with a suspicious person for investigative purposes by a police officer not recognizable as such, regardless of the deception effort and the intensity of the intervention, is to be classified as a covert investigation within the meaning of the Federal Act on Covert Investigations (BVE).
The deployment of the police officer "SK 151" is therefore to be classified as a covert investigation within the meaning of the BVE. Since the required judicial authorization was not obtained, the findings…