This is perhaps the largest operation against organized crime ever carried out in Switzerland for years: thanks to pirated data in 2021 by Belgian and French fonts, from the encrypted Sky Global network (read box), the authorities were able to go back to trafficking networks and update large-scale operations, then pronounce heavy prison terms.
However, a major doubt now weighs on the validity of the evidence, reports the “NZZ AM SONNTAG”: several specialists in law and defense lawyers argue that SKY’s information cannot be used as proof before the courts, because the rules of criminal procedure have been raped.
Among these experts, the Wolfgang Wohlers criminalist, professor and dean of the law faculty of the University of Basel, points to the absence of access to raw data – registered conversations. Because foreign authorities have only transmitted transcriptions of conversations on Excel tables, which neither the defense nor the judges can verify accuracy.
“Everything is based on confidence in foreign authorities, it is unacceptable in criminal proceedings. If the defense used such documents in the procedure, it would not come to anyone’s mind to simply trust the accuracy of the data, “he notes. He also wonders if there was a real sufficient initial suspicion against the accused to justify the surveillance of the 170,000 Sky users by the French police.
If the courts were to follow these arguments, central evidence would disappear and sixty procedures for serious crimes could then collapse. The defendants would regain freedom instead of incarceration for twenty years. The first judgments of the cantonal courts are expected this summer. And later, the Federal Court will probably make a final decision which should make case law in this area.
Organized crime networks used smartphones from the Sky Global Canadian company-a kind of gold stallion in organized crime, recalls the “NZZ AM SONNTAG”. The devices, blackberry and modified iPhones, were given to criminals only during conspiracy meetings. Every six months, they had to acquire a new device for thousands of francs. Criminals used a complex encryption that has long been impossible to decode. The messages were automatically erased after 30 seconds. This network was huge, with 170,000 Sky phones active worldwide.
