Facts
On November 19, 2010, [A.] was sentenced by the District Court of Zurich to three years' imprisonment for multiple sexual offenses. At the same time, the court ordered an outpatient treatment measure accompanying the execution of the sentence. The High Court confirmed the judgment but ordered an inpatient therapeutic measure and suspended the execution of the custodial sentence in favor of this measure.
On June 17, 2016, the Office of Corrections of the Canton of Zurich applied for the extension of the inpatient measure. As a result, [A.] was placed in preventive detention. On December 19, 2016, the Office of Corrections lifted the inpatient measure and instead applied for a committal order.
By judgment of January 26, 2017, the District Court again ordered a three-year inpatient therapeutic measure. [A.] appealed against this judgment to the High Court. Until the possible commencement of the measure, but no later than April 26, 2017, [A.] was kept in preventive detention.
On June 9, 2017, [A.] requested the High Court for immediate release from detention, as the detention period set by the District Court had expired. The High Court dismissed the request and ordered the continuation of the preventive detention for the duration of the pending subsequent proceedings.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court found that the detention of [A.] between April 27 and June 12, 2017 was formally unlawful, as there was no valid detention order during this time. The District Court and the High Court had not made a decision on the extension or revocation of the preventive detention during this period.
However, the temporary lack of a detention order in the subsequent proceedings does not necessarily lead to the release from…