Facts
The case concerns an ongoing criminal trial before the Criminal Court of the Federal Criminal Court against Y. and other co-defendants for charges of supporting or participating in a criminal organization and money laundering. Lawyer X. was chosen as private defender by Y. and Z. after the investigation was opened.
The Bundesanwaltschaft (BA) refused to allow lawyer X. to continue acting as private defender due to conflicts of interest, and appointed lawyer A. as Y.'s official defender by decision of September 1, 2004. Lawyer X. requested to be reinstated as Y.'s private defender on November 18, 2008, but the request was rejected by the President of the Criminal Court on December 19, 2008.
Lawyers X. and Y. filed an appeal against this decision with the Federal Court on January 16, 2009, requesting that lawyer X. be authorized to act as Y.'s private defender in the ongoing trial.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the conditions for admitting the appeal were met, in particular whether irreparable and imminent harm was to be feared. The Court considered that the refusal to allow lawyer X. to act as Y.'s private defender could cause harm to Y., as it could prevent him from benefiting from the defense of the lawyer of his choice.
The Court also considered that the right to effective defense, guaranteed by Article 6, paragraph 3, point c) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Article 14, paragraph 3, point d) of the International Covenant on Civil…