It is a story more than 10 years old which has just found its epilogue at the Federal Court (TF). In 2014, several people were physically attacked in the early morning in front of a nightclub in Crans-Montana (VS). The same day, the victims all filed complaints for simple bodily harm.
One of the authors, who had confessed to the facts, had requested and obtained a simplified procedure. He was sentenced to a 22-month suspended custodial sentence. A sentence considered insufficient in the eyes of two of the victims, who would have preferred ordinary criminal proceedings, believing that this would result in a heavier sentence. They therefore appealed, first to the Valais cantonal court, then to the Federal Court.
But the TF did not want to know anything, considering that the simplified procedure was justified insofar as the defendant had admitted the facts. According to the judges, victims can only appeal against “those aspects of the indictment which affect their rights, in particular on the civil claims or the offenses charged”. On the other hand, it is not their responsibility to take a position on the severity of the sentence. It was only on this that the two victims disagreed, without however calling into question the legal classification of the facts pursued.
Consequently, their appeal is rejected and the procedural costs, up to 3,000 francs, are charged to them.
