Refusal to access the file for persons called to provide information before their first hearing

Facts

Between April 23 and 24, 2010, X. and Y., students at school [Z.], suffered a fatal fall during a party organized by a group of students. The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Eastern Vaud district summoned A. (director of school [Z.]), B. (campus manager), and C. (faculty manager) to appear as persons called to provide information. The interested parties requested to consult the entire file before their hearing. The Public Prosecutor's Office rejected this request by decision of March 1, 2011. The Criminal Appeals Chamber of the Cantonal Court of the Canton of Vaud amended this decision, authorizing the interested parties to consult the file before their hearing. The Central Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Vaud appealed to the Federal Court, which admitted the appeal and confirmed the decision of March 1, 2011.

Considerations

Persons called to provide information are considered as participants in the proceedings and may be assimilated to parties if they are directly affected in their rights (Art. 105 para. 2 CrimPC). However, the mere summons to a hearing does not constitute a direct, immediate, and personal infringement of the rights of these persons. Consultation of the file before the first hearing is therefore not necessary to safeguard their interests.

Art. 101 para. 1 CrimPC provides that the parties may consult the file no later than after the first hearing of the accused and the administration of essential evidence. In this case, no accused has yet been heard and the essential evidence has not been administered. The open wording of Art. 101 para. 1 CrimPC confers a certain power of appreciation on the direction of the proceedings,…