Facts
The Turkish national [K.] was sentenced by the High Court of the Canton of Zurich to two years' imprisonment and lifelong expulsion from the country for various offenses, in particular theft, property damage, and trespass. The High Court only credited him with 100 days of pretrial detention that he had served from October 21, 1975 to May 10, 1976.
[K.] filed a nullity appeal against this judgment, as only 100 instead of 202 days of pretrial detention were credited to him. The public prosecutor had previously requested the crediting of the full pretrial detention.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that, according to procedural principles, an accused is not obliged to disclose offenses about which he is not questioned. He may therefore remain silent about them and does not have to assist or facilitate the investigation to his disadvantage.
However, the mere denial of offenses by the accused, as long as they cannot be proven to him, has no further consequences for the course of the proceedings than a refusal to testify. It is therefore justified to equate the mere denial with the permitted refusal to testify, which does not preclude the crediting of the pretrial detention.
The situation is different if…