Facts
On December 23, 2002, X. filed a criminal complaint against A. for malicious denunciation, calumny, and defamation. By order of January 29, 2003, the Investigating Judge refused to follow X.'s complaint. This decision was confirmed by the Indictment Chamber of the Vaud Cantonal Court on February 17, 2003.
X. appealed for nullity to the Federal Tribunal against this judgment. The Federal Tribunal declared the appeal inadmissible and ordered the costs to be borne by X.'s lawyer.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal examined the admissibility of the appeal ex officio. It considered that X., as an injured party but not a victim within the meaning of the Victims of Crime Assistance Act (VOCA), did not have standing to appeal for nullity on the basis of Art. 270(e) of the Federal Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP). The alleged offenses (malicious denunciation, calumny, and defamation) are not generally of a nature to establish VOCA victim status.
The Federal Tribunal also excluded the possibility for X. to invoke the other cases of standing to appeal…