Facts
On April 23, 1982, an ordinary meeting of the Roman Catholic parish of Spiez took place. During the meeting, the president of the parish council, E., as well as Pius and Helena X. made audio recordings. After a participant noticed the audio recordings, E. turned off his device. However, Pius and Helena X. did not report themselves and continued their recordings.
The parish of Spiez subsequently filed a criminal complaint against Pius and Helena X. for unauthorized audio recordings. The court of first instance convicted Pius and Helena X. of a violation of Art. 179ter para. 1 of the Swiss Criminal Code. The High Court of the Canton of Bern confirmed this judgment.
Pius and Helena X. then filed a nullity appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that Art. 179ter of the Swiss Criminal Code protects the personal sphere of secrecy and the development of personality of the individual. The authorized person is primarily the natural person who participated in the non-public conversation.
In the present case, however, the parish of Spiez had not itself participated in a conversation with the appellants. Rather, the proceedings took place within the parish assembly, in which the appellants also participated as voting parish members. The votes recorded…