Facts
The accused Frauenknecht is in remand custody in the remand prison of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. His defense counsel applied to the federal investigating judge to allow the accused to use devices for receiving radio and television broadcasts. The investigating judge rejected this request on the grounds that the use of such devices is not possible according to the house rules of the Basel remand prison.
The defense counsel then filed a complaint on behalf and on the instructions of the accused against this order with the Indictment Chamber of the Federal Supreme Court. He requested that the accused be allowed to keep a (combined) radio-television set in his cell.
The investigating judge and the Federal Prosecutor's Office requested that the complaint be dismissed.
Considerations
According to Art. 48 para. 1 sentence 2 of the Federal Code of Criminal Procedure, the remand prisoner may not be further restricted in his freedom than is required by the purpose of the detention and the maintenance of order in the prison.
The Federal Supreme Court states that this provision of federal law takes precedence over the regulatory provisions of the cantonal institutional regulations. Therefore, it must be examined according to federal law, not according to the respective applicable house rules, whether the admission of radio or television sets could disturb the order in the remand prison.
The Federal Supreme Court concludes that the use of radio and television sets can indeed disturb the…