Facts
The appellant [X.] is serving a 5 ½ year penitentiary sentence in the Pöschwies Correctional Facility for rape and attempted rape. He had submitted several applications for the granting of relationship leaves and transfer to an open prison regime, all of which were rejected. On 12 April 2004, he applied again for the granting of accompanied relationship leave, which was rejected by the Directorate of the Pöschwies Correctional Facility on 17 May 2004. Against this rejection, [X.] filed an appeal with the Department of Justice, which also dismissed the appeal on 28 July 2004.Considerations
The Federal Court concluded that the rejection of the leave request due to the appellant's risk of escape was not arbitrary. The Department of Justice was allowed to assume that the appellant could use the possibility of an accompanied leave to escape, given his lack of roots in Switzerland and his contacts abroad. Even though the appellant had already served more than two-thirds of his sentence, the remaining sentence of over one year justified the rejection of the leave request due to the risk of escape.
However, the Federal Court criticized that the Department of Justice had also justified the rejection of the leave request by stating that the appellant did not engage with his…