Facts
The Federal Court decision deals with the question of whether the defence counsel of an accused person has a right to be present during the psychiatric examination of the accused by a court-appointed expert and to ask supplementary questions.
The Public Prosecutor's Office of Zofingen-Kulm is conducting a criminal investigation against the accused A. for various offences. At the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, a medical-psychiatric expert prepared a main expert report on the accused. Later, the Public Prosecutor's Office commissioned the expert to prepare a supplementary psychiatric expert report.
The accused requested that his defence counsel be allowed to participate in all the examination interviews and ask supplementary questions. The Public Prosecutor's Office and the High Court of the Canton of Aargau rejected this. The accused appealed the decision of the High Court to the Federal Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismisses the appeal. It states that the interrogation of the accused and the testimonies of the parties serve different legal functions than a forensic-psychiatric assessment. In the assessment, the expert should be able to form an uninfluenced opinion on the medical-psychiatric questions to be examined.
The law does not provide for a right of the defence to "control" the assessment directly or to supplement the expert's examination of the…