Facts
On 25 March 1993, A. was convicted of multiple failures to fulfill maintenance obligations and sentenced to a suspended prison term. He appealed against this. On 2 December 1993, the respondents 1 and 2 (the Cantonal Court Secretary Y. and the President of the Cantonal Court X.) provided the criminal files, including an extract from A.'s criminal record, for inspection at the request of lawyer B., representing Mrs. A. Later, on 30 March 1994, respondents 1 and 2 transmitted the criminal files again to the District Prosecutor's Office in Andelfingen at their request, in order to shed light on the background of the case.
A. then filed a criminal complaint against respondents 1 and 2 for breach of official secrecy and violation of the Data Protection Act. However, the Public Prosecutor's Office discontinued the proceedings, which was confirmed by the Cantonal Court of Zurich. Thereupon, A. filed a federal nullity appeal with the request to reopen the proceedings against respondents 1 and 2.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the nullity appeal. It stated that A. had suffered neither material nor immaterial damage due to the conduct of respondents 1 and 2 and therefore could not assert any civil claim within the meaning of Art. 270 para. 1 CCP. The transmission of the files to lawyer B. and the subsequent transmission to the District Prosecutor's Office had been lawful in accordance with the relevant provisions…