Extended Participation Rights When Swiss Federal Prosecutors' Take Evidence Abroad

In a decision rendered on January 24, 2017, the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona ruled that an accused party may personally participate in cases where the Swiss Federal Attorneys Office ("Office") takes evidence abroad via the means of international criminal assistance procedures.

In the present case, the Office had filed in July 2015 and February 2016 a request with criminal investigators in Brazil to interrogate certain individuals in that country. In line with a long-standing practice, the accused party was allowed to file vis à vis the Office a questionnaire whereby the Office would pose the accused person's respective questions and later give the accused person access to the interrogation protocols. Legal commentators in Switzerland had critized this obvious limited participation rights for quite some time.