Citizen’s Initiative Dr. Vera Delnon: Legal Protection in Criminal Procedures

In 1991 criminal proceedings in the Canton of Zurich were based upon the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1919 which had been revised several times. However, over the years it became apparent that various shortcomings remained despite all efforts of revision. In order to change that 15 criminal defence lawyers, including Dr. Vera Delnon, launched the citizen’s initiative about the „Legal Protection in Criminal Procedures“.

At the time the protection of the victims of a criminal offence was inadequate. Therefore the citizen’s initiative demanded that victims of severe crimes be entitled to legal assistance free of charge. There was also the need to guarantee the right to the defence lawyer of the first hour as well as immediate and complete information of the accused about his rights. At the time the professional defence had no control over the preliminary investigation by the police. Another new regulation was the introduction of the custodial judge, since imprisonment is one of the most severe intrusions into a person’s life. At that time this was thought to be superfluous in the Canton of Zurich. Bernhard Rüdy from Delnon and Rüdy supported this initiative very actively as member of the board of the Zurich Bar Association. He coordinated the combined efforts for a fair trial of the initiators and the Zurich Bar Association.

The initiative was rejected by a narrow majority of Zurich’s citizens. However, about 75% of its requests were integrated into the ongoing revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which was accepted at the same ballot. Since the introduction of the Federal Code of Criminal Procedure on 1st January 2011 all the issues of the Zurich citizen’s initiative „Legal Protection in Criminal Procedures“ are valid all over Switzerland.