Rejection of the application of Art. 27 SCC to the offence of racial discrimination under Art. 261bis para. 4 SCC

Facts

This decision concerns a delivery person who distributed in Switzerland a revisionist work denying the Holocaust, published by the French intellectual Roger Garaudy. Several associations and the Public Prosecutor's Office filed criminal complaints against the delivery person for racial discrimination within the meaning of Art. 261bis para. 4 SCC. The Criminal Court convicted him, but the Cantonal Court ultimately acquitted him by applying Art. 27 SCC on liability for press offences. The Public Prosecutor's Office then appealed for nullity before the DFC.

Considerations

The DFC upheld the appeal of the Public Prosecutor's Office. It considered that Art. 27 SCC, which provides for a special liability regime for press offences, is not applicable to the offence punished by Art. 261bis para. 4 SCC. The latter provision is indeed specifically intended to prohibit the public expression of discriminatory statements or representations, and allowing the application of Art. 27…