Mootness of an appeal procedure due to acquittal and lack of legal interest

Facts

Parties:
[A.] , represented by attorney Daniel Wipf, against the Public Prosecutor's Office Zurich-Sihl.

Facts:
The Public Prosecutor's Office Zurich-Sihl conducted a criminal investigation against [A.] and ordered the retroactive monitoring of two telephone numbers registered to [A.] . The Coercive Measures Court partially approved the monitoring. [A.] filed a complaint against this decision, which the Higher Court of the Canton of Zurich dismissed. [A.] then filed an appeal in criminal matters with the Federal Supreme Court and requested the annulment of the decision and the ruling of the Higher Court. He also filed an application for free legal aid and legal representation.

Main hearing and acquittal:
Despite the pending appeal proceedings, [A.] was summoned to the main hearing and acquitted of all charges on June 13, 2022. The appeal against the acquittal was withdrawn. [A.] informed the Federal Supreme Court that his legal interest in the handling of the complaint had ceased.

Considerations

The appeal in criminal matters requires a legally protected interest in the annulment of the challenged decision (Art. 81 para. 1 lit. b FSCA). This interest must be current and exist at the time of the judgment. If the protected interest ceases during the proceedings, the matter is generally declared settled. The Federal Supreme Court considers facts that lead to the mootness of the proceedings, regardless of the time of their occurrence and ex officio.

The appellant himself stated that with the acquittal and the termination of the connected administrative court proceedings, his legal interest had ceased. Furthermore, the challenged decision deferred the costs for the first-instance appeal proceedings to the final decision, which took the corresponding costs to the court's account. Consequently, the federal court proceedings are to be considered moot (Art. 71 FSCA in conjunction with Art. 72 FCPA).

In case of mootness of the proceedings, the single judge decides on the procedural costs with a summary reasoning based on the situation before the occurrence of the reason for settlement (Art. 71 FSCA in conjunction with Art. 72 FCPA). Primarily, the presumed outcome of the trial is to be considered. If the presumed outcome of a proceeding cannot be easily determined in the concrete case, the case law of the Federal Supreme Court refers to general civil procedural criteria. According to these, the party that caused the proceedings to become moot or in which the reasons occurred that led to…