Swiss Criminal Procedure Code
(Criminal Procedure Code, CrimPC)

¹ If an ac­cused who has been duly summoned fails to ap­pear be­fore the court of first in­stance, the court shall fix a new hear­ing and sum­mon the per­son again or ar­range for him or her to be brought be­fore the court. It shall take evid­ence where this can­not be delayed.

² If the ac­cused fails to ap­pear for the re-ar­ranged tri­al or if it is not pos­sible to bring him or her be­fore the court, the tri­al may be held in the ab­sence of the ac­cused. The court may also sus­pend the pro­ceed­ings.

³ If the ac­cused is suf­fer­ing from a vol­un­tar­ily in­duced un­fit­ness to plead or if he or she re­fuses to be brought from de­ten­tion to the tri­al, the court may con­duct pro­ceed­ings im­me­di­ately in ab­sen­tia.

⁴ Pro­ceed­ings in ab­sen­tia may only be held if:

a.

the ac­cused has pre­vi­ously had ad­equate op­por­tun­ity in the pro­ceed­ings to com­ment on the of­fences of which he or she is ac­cused

b.

suf­fi­cient evid­ence is avail­able to reach a judg­ment without the pres­ence of the ac­cused.