Implicit Waiver of Appeal by the Accused's Conduct

Facts

The District Court of Zurich convicted [A.] on 25 November 2021 for several threats, coercion, and disobedience to official decisions. [A.] appealed this judgment on 6 December 2021. However, since the pronouncement of the first instance judgment, his place of residence is unknown, and he is no longer reachable, even by his lawyer. The Court of Appeal considered that A.'s conduct, refusing to cooperate and remaining inaccessible, is equivalent to an implicit waiver of the appeal. It therefore dismissed the appeal proceedings as having been discontinued by the withdrawal of the appeal.

Considerations

The court held that the accused's right to have his judgment reviewed by a higher court (Art. 32(3) Cst. and Art. 2 Prot. No. 7 ECHR) is not absolute. One who has the right to appeal may waive it expressly or tacitly (Art. 386(1) CrimPC). In the present case, the accused's conduct, refusing to cooperate and remaining inaccessible even to his lawyer, constitutes a tacit waiver of the appeal, which is incompatible with the principle of good faith. The accused cannot demand the conduct of the appeal proceedings while evading…