Admissibility of a television interview with an inmate of a correctional facility

Facts

X., an editor at Swiss Television (SF), applied to the Office of Corrections of the Canton of Zurich for permission to conduct a television interview with Y., an inmate of the Pöschwies correctional facility. The Office of Corrections rejected the application. X. and SF then filed an appeal with the Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs of the Canton of Zurich, which also dismissed the appeal. X. and SF then filed a complaint with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Zurich, which was also dismissed.

X. and SF then filed a criminal complaint and a subsidiary constitutional complaint with the Federal Supreme Court. They requested that the rulings of the lower instances be overturned.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court upheld the complaint and remanded the case to the lower instance for re-evaluation.

The Federal Supreme Court stated that the conduct of a television interview in a correctional facility generally falls within the scope of protection of media freedom under Article 17 of the Federal Constitution. Therefore, a restriction of this fundamental right is only permissible under the conditions of Article 36 of the Federal Constitution, i.e., it must be justified by a public interest or the protection of the fundamental rights of third parties and be proportionate.

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