Jurisdiction of the Swiss judge for offenses committed abroad by foreigners in matters of narcotics

Facts

The case concerns a British national, [H.], convicted by the Cantonal Court of Aargau for an offense under the federal law on narcotics. The court considered that Swiss jurisdiction was given under Article 19, para. 4, of the Narcotics Act (NarcA) for acts committed abroad. The decision was made without the Swiss authorities checking whether the Netherlands, where the acts were committed, would request the extradition of the accused.

The acts attributed to [H.] include the sale of 3000 doses of LSD in Amsterdam in May 1990. The Cantonal Court retained its jurisdiction to judge these acts based on Article 19, para. 4, NarcA, without taking into account the position of the Dutch authorities on a possible extradition.

Considerations

The Federal Court examined the jurisdiction of the Swiss judge to hear offenses committed abroad by foreigners in matters of narcotics. It recalled that, according to Article 19, para. 4, NarcA, the Swiss judge is only competent if the state where the offense was committed does not request extradition, or if it is not possible.

The Federal Court considered that the Swiss authorities must check whether the state where the offense was committed requests the extradition of the accused before declaring themselves competent. This verification is mandatory, unless a response cannot be obtained within a reasonable time. In this case, the Swiss judge may declare themselves competent without having checked the position of the foreign state.

The Federal…