Facts
The appellant [B.] was convicted on March 10, 1987 for failure to comply with a summons to a civil protection course and fined 300 Swiss francs. On November 14, 1988, he did attend the introductory course for fire protection pioneers, but refused to perform civil protection service. As a result, he was sentenced by the District Court of Winterthur and later by the High Court of the Canton of Zurich to one month's imprisonment for violation of the Civil Protection Act.
When [B.] again failed to comply with a summons to a civil protection course in April 1989, he was sentenced by the District Court of Winterthur to an additional 15 days' imprisonment. [B.] filed a federal nullity appeal against this judgment.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court concluded that the lower court had violated the prohibition of double jeopardy (ne bis in idem) by convicting him again for violation of the Civil Protection Act. In its first judgment of September 18, 1989, the High Court of the Canton of Zurich had already taken into account B.'s general refusal of civil protection service in both the legal classification as a serious case and the determination of the sentence. Thus, the failure to comply with the summons of April 1989 had already been conclusively…