Facts
The Yugoslav national [G.], who had multiple prior convictions, obtained a shotgun and a revolver in Milan in order to carry out a bank robbery, post office robbery, or retail store robbery in the Aarau area of Switzerland. In Switzerland, he acquired additional items such as radios, rubber gloves, screwdrivers, and a glass cutter, which he deposited in a locker at the Aarau train station. An accomplice in Italy was on standby to assist [G.] in carrying out the crime. However, [G.] was arrested before he could conduct reconnaissance of the presumed crime scene.
The High Court of the Canton of Aargau convicted [G.] inter alia of criminal preparatory acts to robbery pursuant to Art. 260bis para. 1 of the Swiss Criminal Code (StGB) and sentenced him to two and a half years of penitentiary and ten years of expulsion from the country. [G.] filed a nullity appeal against this judgment.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that under Art. 260bis para. 1 StGB, the criminality of preparatory acts is given when the perpetrator systematically and concretely takes technical or organizational precautions, the nature and scope of which show that he is about to commit one of the offenses mentioned in this provision. The perpetrator must have at least psychologically reached the threshold of committing the act, but this does not require that he is also materially about to…