Attempted Extortion by Threat of Construction Delay

Facts

The appellant [X.] was found guilty of attempted extortion by the District Court of Aarau. He had demanded an disproportionately high compensation of 820,000 Swiss francs from the developer [A. AG] for the withdrawal of an objection to a construction project, and threatened to delay the construction project by filing legal remedies in case of non-payment. The High Court of the Canton of Aargau confirmed the guilty verdict, but reduced the sentence to 7 months' imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 Swiss francs. [X.] filed a constitutional appeal and a nullity appeal against this judgment.

Considerations

The Federal Court dismissed the constitutional appeal, as the appellant had not sufficiently criticised the reasoning of the contested decision. With regard to the nullity appeal, the Federal Court stated that the threat of delaying the construction project by filing legal remedies was objectively suitable to make the developer compliant.…