No surrender of seized weapons and war materials despite administrative complaint

Facts

Parties: Appellant A. (collector of historical weapons and war materials) vs. SocRA Police and Administrative Court of the Canton of SocRA.

Facts: Between September 2019 and August 2020, [A.] imported various items falling under the Weapons Act (WA) and War Materials Act (WMA) from Germany into Switzerland without authorization. His collection was seized during a house search on 27 August 2020.

[A.] was found guilty of negligent violation of the War Materials Act and multiple negligent violations of the Weapons Act by a penal order dated 18 January 2021. The SocRA Public Prosecutor's Office seized most of the seized weapons and items and handed them over to the SocRA Police for further use. The penal order remained unchallenged and became final.

On 1 March 2021, the SocRA Police ordered the destruction of the seized war materials and the utilization of the remaining weapons and items. [A.] filed a complaint with the Administrative Court of the Canton of SocRA, which dismissed the complaint by judgment of 23 January 2023.

[A.] files a public law complaint against the judgment of the Administrative Court of the Canton of SocRA dated 23 January 2023.

Considerations

The lower court considered that the subject of the administrative court complaint procedure was solely the question of the further use of the seized weapons, items and war materials. The utilization of the items was possible, and the owner was entitled to the proceeds from the utilization. The return of the seized items was not examined, as this was not the subject of the proceedings.

The appellant accused the lower court of incorrectly applying Art. 69 SCC. The lower court had unlawfully restricted the subject of the dispute and had not dealt with the submissions of the appellant. The lower court should also have examined the handing over of the disputed items, in particular in the case of non-firing decorative weapons which served solely a collector's purpose.

The Federal Court clarified the relationship between Art. 69 SCC and the provisions of the Weapons Act. It established that the precautionary seizure under Art. 69 SCC is a criminal measure without a repressive purpose, which aims to protect the public from dangerous items. The Weapons Act aims to prevent the misuse…