Refusal of Conditional Release of a Custodial Sentence Preceding a Measure of Internment

Facts

By a judgment of 20 September 2007, the Criminal Court of the Cantonal Tribunal of Jura sentenced X. for various offences to a custodial sentence of 5 years and also ordered his internment. During the execution of his sentence, X. was successively placed in two penal institutions. On 29 October 2009, the Legal Service, Execution of Sentences and Measures, applied to the Criminal Court to decide on the possible granting of conditional release of X. pursuant to Art. 64 para. 3 SCC. On 22 February 2010, the Criminal Court refused to grant conditional release.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal upheld X.'s appeal. The Criminal Court violated Arts. 64 para. 3, 64b para. 2 and 62d para. 2 SCC by not hearing a commission composed of representatives of the criminal prosecution authorities, the enforcement authorities and the psychiatric community, although this hearing is required to decide on the conditional release of a custodial sentence preceding a measure of internment. Art. 64b para. 2 SCC, which provides for this requirement for the conditional release of internment, applies by analogy to the situation governed by Art. 64 para. 3 SCC.

The decision on the conditional release of a custodial sentence executed before a measure of internment must therefore be made on the basis of a report from the…