Facts
The High Court of the Canton of Zurich found X. guilty of intentional driving while incapable of driving and failure to control the vehicle. It sentenced him to a conditional monetary penalty of 45 daily rates of 160 Swiss francs each and a fine of 1,500 Swiss francs. It credited the one day of remand detention against the fine at a rate of 160 Swiss francs.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Canton of Zurich appealed against this judgment and requested that the remand detention be credited against the monetary penalty instead of the fine.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court granted the appeal. It stated that according to Art. 51 para. 1 of the Swiss Criminal Code, remand detention must be credited primarily against the custodial sentence as the main sentence, regardless of whether it is suspended or unsuspended. Only if the remand detention exceeds the duration of the custodial sentence can it be credited against a monetary penalty.
When a monetary penalty for a misdemeanor and a fine for a petty offense are imposed simultaneously, crediting the remand detention against the monetary penalty as the main sentence is to be preferred. This follows from the wording of Art. 51 of the Swiss Criminal Code, according to which the legislator expressly provides for the crediting of remand detention against a monetary penalty.
If the remand detention exceeds the duration of the custodial sentence or the number of daily…