Facts
The complainant [X.] and his wife [A.] have been living separately since January 1, 2009. In the context of the family law disputes between them, various criminal complaints were filed, including one by [X.] against his wife. The public prosecutor's office discontinued the criminal proceedings on April 19, 2013, and allocated the procedural costs in proportion to the investigative effort expended. The complainant appealed against the discontinuation decision and requested that the costs related to the discontinued complaint offenses be borne by the state.
The Lucerne Cantonal Court dismissed the appeal on October 10, 2013. The complainant filed a criminal appeal and requested that the Lucerne Cantonal Court's decision of October 10, 2013, be overturned and the cost allocation between complaint and official offenses be reassessed.
Considerations
The Federal Court ruled that the complainant is directly affected by the preceding instance's cost decision and has a legally protected interest in its repeal. The right to appeal is given, and the appeal is fundamentally admissible.
However, the Court ruled that it would not consider the appeal insofar as the complainant requests a new distribution of costs between complaint and official offenses. This is a new request that was not raised in the preceding cantonal proceedings and is inadmissible.
The Court found that the procedural costs related to the discontinued offenses cannot be imposed on the defendant 2 as the accused person, since there is no civilly reprehensible behavior on her part.
The Court ruled that the preceding instance's allocation of costs…