The Supreme Court’s decision is damning for the Anastasiades government

Statement by AKEL Political Bureau member and Head of Legal Affairs Aristos Damianou

 

 

5 March 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

 

The Supreme Court’s decision, on the basis of which a citizen was acquitted of the charge of participating in a demonstration in violation of the then decrees issued [by the government] regarding the handling of the coronavirus, is damning for the Anastasiades government and the handling that were made back then with regards the restriction of human rights and civil liberties at that time.

The fact that the court proceeds to make conclusions which show that the government behaved in a sloppy and disproportionate manner reinforces our position that most of these decisions were taken to serve expediencies and not necessarily the logic of usefulness and proportionality.

The fact that the Supreme Court, citing relevant case law of the European Court of Justice, explicitly states that the right to peaceful assembly is of particular value, since it can also be used to exercise freedom of expression, the core of the democratic constitution which is the fundamental characteristic of European public order, reinforces the warnings, but also the arguments that AKEL has since then been putting forward in the public debate during a difficult period on the one hand, but also during a period of increased fury.

Now there is also a Supreme Court case law showing a deficient handling on the part of the previous government with regard to the protection of human rights and civil liberties, at a time when it of course had to handle the pandemic.

05.03.2024