Facts
The Federal Tribunal has been seized with an appeal against a decision of the Federal Criminal Court that had ordered the lifting of the blocking of a bank account in the context of a judicial assistance procedure with Russia. The account had been blocked for more than 8 years. The facts are as follows: - In 2013, the Office of the Attorney General of the Confederation opened a criminal proceeding against the former Russian Deputy Minister of Agriculture [A.] for qualified money laundering, following a report from the Swiss financial intelligence unit. - The Russian authorities have made several requests for judicial assistance to Switzerland, which has in particular ordered the blocking of A.'s bank account. - In 2017, the Office of the Attorney General closed the Swiss criminal proceeding, but the blocking of the account remained in force in the context of the judicial assistance. - In 2022, [A.] requested the lifting of the blocking of his account, but the Office of the Attorney General rejected this request, pending a decision by the Federal Office of Justice on the suspension of assistance with Russia. - The Federal Criminal Court finally ordered the lifting of the blocking 3 months after the judgment, considering that the maintenance of this measure had become disproportionate. - The Federal Office of Justice appealed against this decision to the Federal Tribunal.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal upheld the appeal of the Federal Office of Justice. First, the Federal Tribunal considers that [A.] cannot invoke Art. 2 IMAC (ground for exclusion of public order) insofar as he is only concerned by the blocking of an account in Switzerland and not by an extradition or the transmission of bank documents. Only persons directly affected by the criminal proceedings abroad can invoke this…