Dismissal of the Appeal Against the Penalty Order for Failure to Activate the Parking Meter

Facts

The appellant [X.] was fined CHF 40 by the municipality of Salouf on 15 February 2010 for failure to activate the parking meter (Art. 48 para. 6 Signalling Ordinance). The Administrative Court of the Canton of Graubünden dismissed her appeal against the penalty order on 26 May 2010. [X.] then filed a criminal appeal with the Federal Supreme Court, requesting to be acquitted of guilt and penalty.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that the appellant's status as the registered keeper of the vehicle involved could be considered as evidence of her culpability. Although [X.] claimed she could no longer remember who had driven the car on the day in question, the lower court was entitled without arbitrariness to assume that she had either parked the vehicle herself in the paid parking lot or had been present when her husband had driven it there. The appellant's silence or invocation of the right to refuse to testify did not prevent the court from assuming her culpability.

Furthermore, the Federal Supreme Court stated that the violation of traffic…