Facts
On December 12, 1966, the Supreme Court of the Canton of Zurich sentenced the appellant to two years in prison for fraud, repeated and continuous misappropriation of funds, repeated and continuous disloyal management, as well as repeated and continuous forgery, committed between 1957 and 1959. The convicted person requested a pardon from the State Council of the Canton of Zurich, which rejected his request. The appellant then filed a petition for review, which was also rejected.Considerations
The right to appeal in the event of a rejection of a pardon request is limited, as the granting of a pardon is a matter of broad discretion of the pardoning authority and does not constitute a subjective right of the convicted person. Nevertheless, the pardoning authority must respect certain fundamental principles and cannot treat similar factual situations unequally.
The Zurich regulation on the right of pardon, which leaves it to the legislation to determine the cases in which the government must submit the pardon request to the Grand Council, does not violate either cantonal or federal law. Entrusting the government with the decision on pardon requests in less serious cases is justified by…