Facts
The facts concern a request for legal assistance from the Republic of the Philippines to Switzerland in connection with the repatriation of assets allegedly unlawfully acquired by Ferdinand Marcos, his relatives, and persons close to him. This included the former Philippine Minister of Energy X. The District Attorney's Office in Zurich subsequently froze several accounts in Zurich where assets of X. were suspected to be held.
In a final decree, the District Attorney's Office ordered the release of the seized bank documents and, subject to certain conditions, the transfer of the assets to the Philippine National Bank. X. and other parties involved filed an appeal against this with the High Court of the Canton of Zurich.
The Republic of the Philippines applied to be admitted as a party to the appeal proceedings. The High Court granted this application, but restricted the Republic of the Philippines' right of access to the files in order to reduce the risk of premature disclosure of sensitive information.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court overturned the decision of the High Court and rejected the Republic of the Philippines' application for admission to the appeal proceedings. It justified this as follows:
In legal assistance proceedings, the requesting state as such is generally not a party. An exception was only allowed if the requesting state is also a victim within the meaning of Art. 21 para. 2 IMAC and it is a matter of the restitution of assets unlawfully taken from it.
In the present case, however, it is not only a matter of the release of assets, but also of the release of bank documents from which the identity of the account holder and the origin…