Facts
Complainant [A.] filed a criminal complaint against [B.] for slander and libel on 21 March 2013. The Lucerne Public Prosecutor's Office initiated a criminal investigation and discontinued it on 16 July 2013, as [B.] had provided evidence of the truth of his defamatory statements. The complainant appealed against the discontinuation of the proceedings, which the Lucerne Cantonal Court did not consider due to lack of legitimacy. The complainant requests that the presidential ruling be revoked and the lower court be instructed to consider the appeal.
The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Lucerne Cantonal Court request that the appeal be dismissed. The respondent waives the right to comment.
Considerations
The Federal Court considered the appeal as the complainant alleged a violation of rights to which he was entitled as a party to the proceedings. The complainant claims that the lower court denied his legitimacy because it wrongly assumed that he had waived his status as a private plaintiff.
The Federal Court examined whether the complainant had waived his rights as a private plaintiff by signing a form for complaint offenses. However, the form was incomplete and poorly designed, and the complainant could not clearly waive his civil claims without giving up his…