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OG 1993 52 ΓÇó Cost allocation after dismissal of drunk-driving investigation overturned
OG 1993 52Übriges Gericht24.01.1993Granted
X. was stopped in a police control and found to have a blood alcohol level between 0.65 and 0.75 weight per mille. The investigating magistrate discontinued the drunk-driving case but charged him with the full costs. The cantonal appeal was rejected. On constitutional complaint, the Federal Court held that such a cost order is permissible only where the accused clearly breached a legal norm in a civilly blameworthy way and thereby caused the proceedings. Since Swiss law did not prohibit the mere driving of a vehicle at that alcohol level, the cost allocation violated Art. 4 BV. The complaint was therefore allowed and the CHF 659.80 costs were shifted to the State.
Art. 4 BV; cost allocation after discontinuance of criminal proceedings: a cost order against the accused is constitutionally admissible only if he has clearly breached a legal norm in a civilly blameworthy manner and thereby occasioned the proceedings. The norm may stem from the whole Swiss legal order, but there must be a specific rule imposing a duty to act or refrain from acting. Mere driving with a certain blood alcohol concentration, without proof of a traffic-endangering manoeuvre or other conduct contrary to traffic safety rules, does not suffice if no provision of Swiss law prohibits that conduct as such. In such circumstances, allocating the costs to the accused is incompatible with Art. 4 BV (consid. 4).
X. war am 12. April 1991 im Rahmen einer polizeilichen Kontrolle einem Atemlufttest unterzogen worden, der einen Alkoholgehalt von 0,71 Gewichtspromillen ergab. Gestützt auf dieses Ergebnis ordnete die Polizei eine ärztliche Blutentnahme an. Die Probenanalyse durch das Gerichtsmedizinische Institut Zürich ergab für die relevante Zeit eine Alkoholkonzentration von mindestens 0,65 und höchstens 0,75 Gewichtspromillen. Mit Entscheid vom 1. Mai 1991 stellte der Amtsstatthalter von Luzern-Stadt die Untersuchung gegen X. wegen Führens eines Personenwagens in angetrunkenem Zustand ein und überhand ihm die gesamten Untersuchungskosten (Ziff. 2).