Facts
The German national X., born in 1962, entered Switzerland in 1986 and was granted a settlement permit. He was convicted in 1996 and 2006 for multiple acts of sexual abuse of children, sexual coercion, and simple assault. Due to the offenses, he was committed to a therapeutic or care institution pursuant to Art. 43 of the Swiss Criminal Code. Since 2004, he has been serving his measure prematurely.
In 2006, the Department of Justice, Police and Military of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft expelled X. from Switzerland for 5 years based on Art. 10 para. 1 lit. a of the Federal Act on Foreign Nationals. X. filed a complaint against this decision, which was rejected by the Cantonal Government and the Cantonal Court. Subsequently, X. filed a public law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court first examined the complaint from the perspective of domestic law. It found that expulsion is also possible if the appellant is serving a measure and an improvement in his prognosis is not yet foreseeable. An extension of the measure beyond 5 years is only possible if a therapeutic effect is to be expected and a risk of relatively serious offenses exists.
Even if the appellant should eventually be conditionally released from the measure, this does not preclude expulsion, as criminal law and immigration law pursue different objectives. A positive development in the execution of…