Facts

The Stuttgart Public Prosecutor's Office submitted requests for legal assistance to the Swiss authorities in September 1994, December 1994, and July 1995 in a criminal proceeding against R., [C.], and other parties involved. The accused are suspected of having violated the German War Weapons Control Act and the German Foreign Trade Legislation. The Federal Prosecutor's Office accepted the request for legal assistance and approved it. It ordered house searches and seized documents totaling around 100 federal folders. With its final ruling of May 8, 1996, the Federal Prosecutor's Office ordered that part of the seized files be transmitted to the German authorities in their original form. [C.], B., and D. filed administrative law appeals against this final ruling.

The Federal Court combined the administrative law appeals and dismissed them, insofar as it considered them. The appellants complained that most of the files that the Federal Prosecutor's Office wanted to transmit to the German authorities did not relate to the subject of the German criminal proceedings and therefore could not be transmitted.

Considerations

The Federal Court examined the admissibility of the legal assistance and found that the admissibility of the legal assistance is generally governed by the European Convention on Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and the supplementary treaty concluded between Switzerland and Germany. The procedure before the Swiss authorities is governed by the Federal Act on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and the related implementing ordinance.

The Federal Court recognized that the appellants mainly complained that most of the files that the Federal Prosecutor's Office wanted to transmit to the German authorities did not relate to the subject of the German criminal proceedings and therefore could not be transmitted. This complaint is admissible according to the above. The Federal Court examined the complaint and found that the Federal Prosecutor's Office had separated the files to be transmitted to the German authorities and that the appellants had not shown that certain documents would certainly not be relevant to the German criminal…