Facts
The appellant W. was the managing director and chairman of the board of directors of B. AG since the mid-1970s. One of his responsibilities was the procurement of pornographic articles for distribution in the company's retail stores. From March 1976 to January 1980, he imported a total of 5,184 sex films into Switzerland without customs declaration. For this, he was convicted by the High Court of the Canton of Zurich in 1988. Subsequently, the appellant was accused of having imported an additional 4,379 sex films, video cassettes and playing card sets without customs declaration from February 1980 to August 1987, thereby evading duties totaling around 77,900 Swiss francs. The lower court saw this as a habitual offense within the meaning of Art. 82 No. 2 of the Customs Act and convicted the appellant. He filed a nullity appeal, arguing that the offenses were time-barred.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that in the case of a habitual offense under Art. 82 No. 2 of the Customs Act, the various criminal acts form a unity under the law of limitation, in which the limitation period for all individual acts only begins to run with the last act. The requirements for this were met here:
Over a period of around seven and a half years, the appellant committed at least eight violations per month to ensure an adequate supply of goods for B. AG. His approach was always the same, and the supplier was always the same. The criminal activity was part of the normal…