Facts
The appellant [X.] was convicted by the Criminal Court of Schwyz for multiple counts of rape, sexual coercion, and sexual harassment. The Cantonal Court of Schwyz partially overturned the judgment and remanded the case for a new decision. The Federal Supreme Court overturned the Cantonal Court's judgment and remanded the case for a new decision to the Cantonal Court. The Cantonal Court ruled that certain dispositional provisions of the first-instance judgment and the appeal judgment had become final and remanded the case to the Criminal Court regarding other points.
The appellant filed a complaint against the Cantonal Court's ruling and requested that the ruling be reversed and the case remanded to the Cantonal Court so that it could reconsider the charge of rape against [B.] and render an appeal judgment in the case.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court found that the contested ruling of the Cantonal Court was contrary to federal law in several respects. The lower court had misconstrued the reformative nature of the appeal and established the finality of individual dispositional provisions of the first-instance judgment and the appeal judgment, even though they had not become final.
The Federal Supreme Court stated that the appeal is a reformative remedy that enables the appeal court to reevaluate the facts and render a new judgment. The lower court should therefore have rendered a partial judgment and conducted the necessary examination of witness [B.] pursuant to Art. 389 para. 2…