First he was acquitted
German has to fork out 5,700 francs for a manipulated vignette
Juicy fine for a German driver. The 53-year-old forged the motorway vignette last year. Now he has to pay several thousand francs.
Published: 9 minutes ago
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Updated: 1 minute ago
The German was acquitted in the district court last April.
Last April, the President of the District Court of Rheinfelden AG had acquitted the German of the charge of counterfeiting official stamps. But the public prosecutor’s office in Rheinfelden-Laufenburg took the acquittal to the higher court.
The Supreme Court sentenced the man to a conditional fine of 25 daily rates of 120 francs and a liaison fine of 500 francs for forging official stamps. This emerges from the judgment of the Supreme Court published on Tuesday.
Was initially acquitted
The public prosecutor’s office had imposed a conditional fine of 20 daily rates and a fine of 600 francs. The German objected to the penalty order and demanded an acquittal.
The Border Guard checked the driver on September 10, 2021 at 7 a.m. at the Rheinfelden-Autobahn border crossing coming from Switzerland. The border guard found that the motorway vignette for 2021 was mounted behind the windshield using a transparent backing film.
A vignette would only have cost 40 francs
So the vignette was not stuck directly to the windshield. As a result of this manipulation, the prepared motorway vignette can be easily detached from the windshield and detached again, as stated in the penalty order.
The Supreme Court confirmed this fact. The man had manipulated the motorway vignette with the equivalent of 40 francs in such a way that it could be easily removed from the windshield without damage and optionally transferred to another vehicle.
“The procedure required little effort or skills apart from rudimentary handicraft skills,” says the Supreme Court. Accordingly, “one cannot speak of particularly cunning behavior”.
He has to dig deep into his pocket
In principle, the behavior of the accused did not go far beyond the fulfillment of the facts and the culpability was to be rated as slight.
But because the German has not (yet) been finally found guilty, he has to dig deep into his pocket: the proceedings before the Supreme Court cost him 2,116 francs and the proceedings before the Rheinfelden District Court, including the indictment fee, cost 1,854 francs.
The higher court’s treasury initially covers the costs of the official defense attorney of 1,784 francs. Compensation will be demanded back from the accused as soon as his economic situation allows.
In addition to the conditional fine totaling CHF 3,000 and the fine of CHF 500, the driver also incurs expenses of CHF 5,754. The motorway vignette only cost 40 francs. (SDA)