Facts
The criminal investigation against X. was opened on August 10, 2011, by the Baden Public Prosecutor's Office under case number ST.2011.4075. X. was in pre-trial detention from September 9, 2011, until the start of early enforcement of the sentence on June 18, 2013, and was released from early enforcement of the sentence on October 30, 2013. On June 18, 2014, the Public Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment.
By judgment of the Baden District Court of July 1, 2015, X. was found guilty of simple assault, multiple coercion, multiple endangering of life, qualified robbery, and multiple violations of the Weapons Act and was sentenced to a term of 10 years. X. appealed, and the Aargau Cantonal Court acquitted him of the charge of multiple endangering of life, but confirmed the other convictions and sentenced him to a term of 5 years.
X. filed a criminal complaint and requested to be acquitted of the charges of qualified robbery, coercion, and violations of the Weapons Act. He requested a sentence of 12 months, taking into account the time already served, and compensation of CHF 50,000.- for the excessive detention suffered. The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the first instance court requested that the complaint be dismissed.
Considerations
The Federal Court overturned the contested judgment and remitted the case for retrial to the first instance court. It found that X. had the right to participate in the interrogations of co-accused, as provided for in Art. 147 para. 1 CrimPC. However, this right was denied to the complainant in all interrogations. According to Art. 147 para. 4 CrimPC, a violation of the right to participate leads to a prohibition on the use of evidence against the party who was not present during the evidence gathering.
In the present case, statements from co-accused in interrogations in which…