Facts
The complainant, a journalist, requested the Federal Administrative Court to serve the judgment of the Asylum Appeals Commission (ARK) of December 20, 2005. The judgment concerned an Eritrean deserter seeking asylum in Switzerland. The complainant received an officially published version of the judgment, but not the original version or the composition of the judicial panel. The Secretary General of the Federal Administrative Court rejected the request for access, citing that the protection period under the Archiving Regulation had not yet expired and that the trust of the former ARK judges in anonymity had to be protected.
The complainant appealed to the Federal Court and requested the annulment of the contested decision and access to the full judgment of the Asylrekurskommission. The Federal Court upheld the appeal and referred the matter back to the Federal Administrative Court to make the judgment available in anonymized form with the composition of the judicial panel.
Considerations
The Federal Court stated that the Archiving Regulation does not preclude knowledge of judgments. Judicial publicity is a constitutionally guaranteed right that allows knowledge of judgments to be taken. This right is not absolute, but is limited by the protection of personal and public interests.
The Federal Court found that the disputed ARK judgment falls within the scope of Art. 30 para. 3 Cst. and that a fundamental right to knowledge of the judgment is therefore to be assumed. The right to knowledge generally extends to the entire judgment, including the facts, legal considerations, and disposition, as well as the composition of the judicial panel.
The Federal Court pointed out that the…