Facts
The case concerns the conviction of Lenzlinger and his employees for unlawful detention, handling stolen goods and violation of postal secrecy. Lenzlinger led an organization to help people from the Eastern Bloc escape and was hindered by Catterini, who provided the State Security Service of the GDR with information about the escape aid operation. Lenzlinger and his employees arrested Catterini and held him for several hours to obtain confessions about his intelligence service. Lenzlinger also took over a suitcase with 70-80 blank West German passports from a German named Zenker and hid them to prevent them from being discovered and seized during Zenker's border crossings. Lenzlinger also opened a letter addressed to Mrs. Catterini without her knowledge and later handed it over to the police.
The High Court of the Canton of Zurich convicted Lenzlinger of unlawful detention, handling stolen goods and violation of postal secrecy, sentencing him to 3 months in prison and a fine of Fr. 200.--. The four convicted individuals filed a petition for annulment, requesting that the judgment of the High Court be overturned and the case be referred back to the lower court for partial acquittal or retrial.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the lawfulness of the conviction for unlawful detention and found that the defendants were neither witnesses to an ongoing or immediately preceding crime, nor was there a need for a rapid arrest of a suspect. The arrest of Catterini by Lenzlinger and his employees was therefore unlawful.
The Federal Court also found that Lenzlinger was guilty of handling stolen goods by hiding the blank West German passports to prevent them from being discovered and seized during Zenker's border crossings. The passports had…