Sky ECC: Swiss Supreme Court declines prosecutors’ immediate appeal
On 5 August 2026 the Federal Supreme Court held that an immediate appeal against Zurich’s exclusion of Sky ECC data was inadmissible. Prosecutors could challenge the evidence ruling together with the later final judgment.
On 15 August 2025 Zurich’s appellate court ordered Sky ECC data removed from the file, principally because of a breach of territorial sovereignty. The cantonal chief prosecutor asked the Federal Supreme Court to overturn that part of the order and admit the data. The federal case was numbered 7B_1429/2025.
The dispute arose in the appeal of a man sentenced by Dielsdorf District Court on 19 January 2024 to ten years and nine months for drug offences. The convictions relied substantially on intercepted and decrypted Sky ECC communications supplied to Switzerland. The defendant appealed and prosecutors filed a cross-appeal.
The Federal Supreme Court classified the evidence order as an interlocutory decision. Prosecutors had not shown an irreparable legal disadvantage requiring immediate intervention: the investigation was complete, charges had been brought and the case was already on appeal. Subject to the statutory conditions, they could challenge the evidence ruling together with the final judgment.
The court also criticised Zurich’s division of the appeal hearing into an initial stage solely about the chats’ admissibility and a later stage about guilt and sentence. Article 342 of the Swiss Criminal Procedure Code provided no basis for that arrangement. The appeal was not examined on its merits and no court costs were imposed.
