Facts
The complainant X. was arrested on December 1, 2011, after smuggling 12,766 grams of cocaine into Switzerland. [A.], who was also arrested, was involved in the drug transport. The Cantonal Court of Zurich convicted X. of aggravated violation of the Narcotics Act and money laundering to a prison sentence of 4 years and a conditional fine. X. complained that her rights under Art. 147 CrimPC were violated because she had not been informed of the interrogations of [A.] and thus could not participate. She argued that the interrogation of [A.] one day before the confrontation hearing was abusive and that she did not have sufficient time to prepare.
Considerations
The court of first instance denied a violation of the right to participate. It argued that these were offenses committed in partial complicity, and the presence of all accused in all interrogations would not contribute to the search for truth and was impractically impossible. The complainant had already been informed of A.'s essential statements months before the confrontation hearing and had never requested to participate in the interrogations. The court of first instance noted that the complainant was handed a copy of the previous interrogation of [A.] one hour before the confrontation hearing began to exercise her defense rights.
The Federal Court upheld the decision of the court of first instance. It found that in separate proceedings, the accused have no party status in the other proceedings and thus no…