Filenews 29 May 2021
More than 100 citizens and residents of the Republic are suing the Nicosia District Court against the State, the Minister of Health and the members of the Advisory Group on Koronoi issues, through the Law Firm G. Georgiadis & Associates DEPE, in collaboration with Lawyers Alexis Stylianou and Andreas Sialaro. The lawsuit claims damages for negligence in the way the pandemic is managed and for violating the individual rights of the plaintiffs as they are protected by the Constitution due to the imposition of illegal, disproportionate and unconstitutional restrictive measures.
At the same time, with this action, the plaintiffs proceed with an application for a provisional decree requesting the suspension of existing decrees of the Ministry of Health and related measures, which inter alia provide for the presentation of a negative result in a 72-hour rapid test or vaccination certificate with at least the first dose or a release certificate for those who have already been sick in the last 6 months with Covid-19 as a "safe pass".
According to Yannos Georgiadis, in addition to the fact that these decrees are illegal and therefore invalid from the outset, since they have not been approved by the House as provided for in Article 3(1) of the Law on deposit in the House of Representatives of Regulations adopted by Authorization Law of 1989 (Law 99/1989), it is also contrary, articles 5, 6 & 26 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine (Oviedo Convention) and Articles 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 25 and 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus as well as European and International Conventions.
Mr Georgiadis argues that restrictive measures constitute an indirect compulsion either to submit to a rapid antigen detection test and to compulsory vaccination, in breach of the above Articles. These measures, he stresses, are also contrary to the decision of the Parliamentary Committee of the Council of Europe of 27 January 2021, according to which governments have an obligation to inform their citizens that vaccination is not compulsory and that no one is subject to political, social or other pressure to be vaccinated if they do not wish to do so. That decision also refers to the fact that no one is discriminated against because of their choice not to carry out vaccination.
It is well known and accepted that all vaccines on the market for covid-19 are still in an experimental stage since manufacturers report that they are still continuing clinical trials in people who have agreed to participate in them for another about two years. That is why the FDA and EMA approved their use temporarily for urgent and exceptional cases. It is also a fact that thousands of people have either died as a result of vaccination or are at risk of losing their lives or have developed thrombocytopenia.
