Facts
The Office of the Attorney General of the Canton of Zurich filed an appeal against the judgment of the High Court of the Canton of Zurich of 2 September 2013, in which [A.] , [B.] and [C.] were sentenced to prison terms of 11, 12 and 9 years respectively for multiple, partially qualified robberies.
The respondents 1, 2 and 3 had repeatedly attacked, robbed and forced various persons in their homes to disclose the PIN codes of their bank cards between January and March 2010. The Federal Court annulled the judgment of the High Court with regard to the qualification of the robbery of 9 February 2010 and remanded the case to the lower court for a new decision. In all other respects, it dismissed the appeal.
Considerations
The Federal Court considered that the use of the knife by respondent 1 in front of the victim [Z.] 's face had indeed created a concrete danger, but this was not immediately life-threatening. Nor was the treatment of the victim to be qualified as cruel within the meaning of Art. 140 para. 4 SCC.
However, the approach of the respondents, who surprised the victim in his sleep and threatened him with a knife, was to be assessed as an expression of their particular dangerousness within the meaning of Art. 140 para. 3 SCC. The Federal Court…