Facts
On November 27, 1987, the High Court of the Canton of Zurich sentenced Z. to 16 years of penitentiary for a violation of the Narcotics Act, minus 519 days of pre-trial detention. On August 9, 1991, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Department of Justice of the Canton of Zurich ordered the transfer of Z. to continue serving his sentence in his home country of Israel. On August 14, 1991, Z. was transferred to Tel Aviv, where he left the airport building as a free man and was subsequently placed in a rehabilitation program.
On November 29, 1993, the High Court of the Canton of Zurich convicted the Deputy Secretary-General of aiding and abusing his office. On March 15, 1994, Z. was arrested in Rome and extradited to Switzerland on July 29, 1994. By order of August 30, 1994, the Office for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions and Measures of the Canton of Zurich revoked the order of August 9, 1991 and ordered the continuation of the execution of the prison sentence in Switzerland.
Z. filed an administrative court appeal, requesting that the time from August 14, 1991 to March 15, 1994 be credited against the penitentiary sentence to be served in Switzerland.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal. It considers the order of the Deputy Secretary-General of August 9, 1991 to be null and void, as he was neither materially nor functionally competent and serious procedural errors had been committed. The rehabilitation program carried out in Israel is most comparable to a probationary supervision under Art. 47 of the Swiss Criminal Code. Since the appellant was at liberty in Israel and did not experience any significant restriction of his personal freedom, the respondent did not exceed its discretion in refraining from crediting the time.
The Federal Supreme Court…