Facts
The complainant [A.] submitted several documents to the cantonal police of Aargau on 4 January 2016, including a decision by the SPG complaints office of the cantonal social services, a tenancy law lawsuit and an administrative complaint. The cantonal police forwarded this submission to the public prosecutor's office of Zofingen-Kulm, which issued a decision not to initiate proceedings on 22 February 2016. The High Court of the canton of Aargau dismissed the complaint against this decision on 16 January 2017. The complainant then appealed to the Federal Court.
The parties are the complainant [A.] and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the canton of Aargau. The proceedings concern the decision not to initiate criminal proceedings and the question of whether the complainant is entitled to appeal as a private plaintiff.
Considerations
The Federal Court first examined whether the complainant is entitled to appeal as a private plaintiff. It found that the complainant had not substantiated his entitlement to appeal and it was also not apparent which civil law claims were at issue. The complainant is therefore not entitled to the present remedy.
However, the Federal Court examined whether the complainant could complain of a violation of his procedural rights. The complainant complained of numerous breaches of the right to be heard, in particular that he was not able to participate personally in the police investigation and was not able to inspect the files. The Federal Court dismissed these complaints, however, as the public prosecutor's office does not have to grant a hearing before issuing a decision not to…