Facts
# Participation in a Brawl and Punishability Regardless of the Timing of InjuryParties involved: X. (appellant) against the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.
Courts involved: Police Court of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Criminal Appeals Chamber of the Court of Justice, SCC.
Key dates: Judgment of the Police Court on January 25, 2012, decision of the Criminal Appeals Chamber on September 24, 2012, appeal to the SCC on February 28, 2013.
Main facts: In the night of August 7 to 8, 2009, a brawl broke out in the English Garden in Geneva between two groups of several people. X. threw a bicycle in the direction of the group to which belonged a person injured by knife blows. X. was convicted of brawling (art. 133 para. 1 SCC).
The art. 133 para. 1 SCC punishes anyone who takes part in a brawl that has resulted in the death of a person or bodily injury. A brawl is defined as a physical altercation between at least three protagonists, active, having resulted in death or bodily injury. Participation in a brawl is punishable due to its intrinsic dangerousness, regardless of the specific result caused by each participant.
Case law and doctrine are divided on the question of whether participation in a brawl after the occurrence of the injury is punishable. Some authors believe that participation must be prior to the injury to be punishable, while others consider that participation in itself, regardless of the timing of the injury, is sufficient to justify a conviction.
The SCC adopts the second approach, considering that participation in a brawl is punishable regardless of when the injury occurred. The objective condition of punishability (the occurrence of death or bodily injury) serves to define the seriousness of the brawl, but does not condition the punishability of each participant. Participation in…