Facts
The case concerns a lawyer, Dr. X, who is defending Meichtry, accused of various crimes. On 16 January 1976, the cantonal police of Zurich found written documents about Meichtry, including a coded message and instructions for his accomplices. The authorities suspect that Dr. X transmitted these messages to third parties. On 22 January 1976, the public prosecutor's office opened an investigation against Dr. X for suspected favoritism.
On 29 January 1976, Dr. X was heard and handed over his sealed files to the police. On 31 January 1976, he added his own seal to the files. The police noted that Dr. X had admitted to receiving coded messages from Meichtry, but that he had kept them in his files and not transmitted them to third parties.
On 7 February 1976, the district prosecutor of Winterthur requested the bar association of the canton of Zurich to release Dr. X from his professional secrecy regarding the defense mandate of Meichtry. The association rejected the request on 8 July 1976, arguing that such a request could only be made by the lawyer himself.
On 3 August 1976, the public prosecutor's office requested the Indictment Chamber of the Federal Court to allow the search of Dr. X's sealed files for coded messages. Dr. X and Meichtry requested the rejection of the application.
Considerations
The Indictment Chamber considered that the search of the sealed documents was justified, as there were plausible reasons to believe that the documents contained important coded messages for the investigation. The Chamber also considered that the lawyer's professional secrecy did not apply to coded messages intended for third parties and not for the lawyer himself.
The Chamber also examined the question of whether the coded messages were covered by the lawyer's professional secrecy. It considered that the coded messages were not intended for the lawyer,…