Facts
On June 27, 1968, the City Council of Zurich rejected the demand of a group of "Progressive Workers, Pupils and Students" as well as the "Action Committee Autonomous Youth Center" for the transfer of the Globus Provisional. In the night from June 29 to June 30, 1968, there were severe clashes between mostly young demonstrators and the police in the area of Bahnhofplatz - Bahnhofbrücke - Central and Bellevue - Bürkliplatz.
The complainant Hans-Rudolf Rieder was forced to turn back on his way home through the crowd near the Central. He parked his car in the Niederdorf and went to the demonstration on the Bahnhofbrücke and at the Central around 11 p.m. There he observed how the crowd was engaged in confrontations with the police present and how solid and dangerous objects were thrown against the law enforcement officers, who were spraying water and making charges into the crowd. Around midnight, Rieder put some stones in his pockets at the Hirschengraben, in order to possibly throw them at the police officers. As some police officers chased a participant of the gathering at the entrance of the Niederdorf to arrest him, Rieder tripped up one of them in an attempt to make the officer fall.
The High Court of the Canton of Zurich convicted Rieder of violence and threat against authorities and officials within the meaning of Art. 285 para. 2 para. 1 of the Swiss Criminal Code to a conditionally suspended prison sentence of 14 days. Rieder appealed against this judgment to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal.
First, Rieder complained that the lower court had not examined the legality of the police measures. However, the Federal Supreme Court upheld its earlier case law, according to which it is not relevant for the punishability under Art. 285 of the Swiss Criminal Code whether the official act was materially justified, factually justified and proportionate. The decisive factor is that the act was…