Facts
The Jury Court of the III. District of the Canton of Bern convicted the appellant X. for multiple, quantitatively qualified, gang-related and commercial violations of the Narcotics Act, committed between the summer of 1991 and September 1992. These included, among other things, the importation of several kilograms of heroin mixture, the transportation and importation of cocaine mixture, as well as the importation of 11.95 kg of heroin mixture. The court also found X. guilty of a violation of the War Material Act, money laundering, forgery of identification documents, and driving without a license, and sentenced him to 12 years of penitentiary and 15 years of expulsion from the country.
Considerations
The appellant argued that the sentence of 12 years of penitentiary imposed on him was too high, given his relatively subordinate position within the drug dealer ring and, in particular, considering his comprehensive confession, especially since the co-defendant B. was also sentenced to 12 years of penitentiary.
The Federal Supreme Court saw ambiguities regarding the factors for sentencing. On the one hand, the appellant's confession was recognized as significantly mitigating the sentence, but on the other hand, it remained unclear to what extent this was taken into account. The relatively subordinate position of the appellant as a "supporting co-conspirator"…