Facts
On March 28, 1977, [S.] broke into B.'s apartment while under the influence of medication and alcohol. He threatened B. and his children with an unloaded gun, but without directly aiming at them. [S.] was found guilty of acts committed in a state of culpable irresponsibility by the Court of the 3rd District of the Canton of Valais and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. The judgment was upheld on appeal by the Cantonal Court of Valais.
[S.] appealed for nullity to the Federal Tribunal, concluding for his acquittal. He notably criticized the cantonal authority for deviating from the conclusions of the psychiatric expert opinion and for considering that Articles 180 (threats) and 186 (violation of domicile) of the Swiss Criminal Code were not applicable, but only Article 263 (acts committed in a state of culpable irresponsibility).
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal first examined S.'s subsidiary ground, which raised a pure question of interpretation and application of the law.
The Court considered that, although the conditions for the application of Article 263 of the Criminal Code were met, since the acts committed by [S.] are offenses that are prosecuted only on complaint and no complaint has been filed, Article 263 of the Criminal Code cannot be applied. Indeed, the Court held that when the act committed in a state of culpable irresponsibility is prosecuted only on complaint, the application of Article 263 of the Criminal Code is subject to the filing of a complaint.
The Court justified this decision by noting that, in the case of offenses…