Federal Court: investigation into Sarco capsule documents now accessible to prosecutors
Federal judges have approved the Schaffhouse public prosecutor's office to examine legal documents related to an assisted death that occurred in the canton in 2024.
Federal Court: investigation into Sarco capsule documents now accessible to prosecutors
The magistrates at Mont Repos have ruled in favour of the Schaffhouse public prosecutor's office. It will now be able to examine documents drawn up by a law firm concerning the Sarco suicide capsule. In two rulings handed down on Tuesday, the Federal Court overturned decisions by the cantonal coercive measures authority, which had refused access to these files. Le Temps reported on this decision.
Everything stems from an assisted death that occurred in September 2024 in the woods near Merishausen. Two employees of a law firm, who had accompanied the organisation The Last Resort, are the subject of a criminal investigation. The justice authorities in Schaffhouse canton treated them as suspects, while maintaining that the public prosecutor could not search a USB key, mobile phones and mobiles that had been seized.
According to the cantonal court, nothing proved that the lawyer and his assistant had been guilty of culpable participation in the death. The Lausanne judges do not share this view. They consider that the lower court did not rule on possible complicity, whereas this is precisely the crux of the investigation.
At the time of the events, the two legal professionals were stationed on an access road leading to the suicide site. The lawyer had conversed several times with a Dutch journalist, who was also charged. He had furthermore reported the death to the criminal authorities.
In their reasoning, the Federal Court magistrates recall that a suspect cannot claim professional secrecy. This rule also applies to the suicide assistance organisation and to the law firm that was commissioned. The Schaffhouse coercive measures court must now sort through the information contained in the confiscated devices. Information relating to the death will then be transmitted to the public prosecutor for examination.
Source: Le Temps