Facts
The appellant [X.] , son of the donors and brother or uncle of the donees, filed a criminal complaint with the Basel-Landschaft cantonal police on February 24, 2014, against unknown persons for forgery of documents and other offenses. The Basel-Landschaft public prosecutor's office opened a criminal investigation, but discontinued it on April 5, 2016. The executor of the will of the deceased [B.A.] , who had meanwhile passed away, appealed the discontinuation of the proceedings to the Basel-Landschaft Cantonal Court. The Basel-Landschaft Cantonal Court dismissed the appeal for lack of standing.
The appellant [X.] requested the continuation of the criminal proceedings and his inclusion as a party to the proceedings. He argued that the lower court had wrongly denied his status as a party and had not addressed his requests.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the appellant's standing to appeal in criminal matters. It found that the appellant, as the person who had filed the complaint, was not a party to the proceedings and was therefore only entitled to participate in the proceedings if he was directly affected in his own interests.
The Federal Court concluded that the appellant was not directly affected in his own rights by the alleged forgeries or other property offenses to the detriment of his parents. The parents were, at the time, the sole holders of the legal interest protected by the offenses against property (with) and were…