Filenews 31 August 2021
Today's decision of the District Court of Nicosia rejected in its entirety the interim application registered by 67 citizens of the Republic, requesting the issuance of a number of temporary decrees, which prohibits the Republic from imposing and obliging the presentation of a negative test for the Covid-19 disease, as a prerequisite for the entry and/or presence of students in school premises, as well as the mandatory use of masks by children over 12 years of age, i.e. students of Gymnasiums, Lyceums and Technical Schools.
Characteristically, the Court ruled that any exemption of the Applicants from the obligations of the contested decree would lead to a rift in the universality of the measures applied.
In addition, the Court states that the facts as they were put before it do not reveal a total prohibition of learning in the event of non-presentation of a negative examination, on the contrary, the alternative of distance learning was given and with regard to the pre-entrance examinations, the Applicants were given the opportunity to sit in a different room.
The main points of the court decision are as follows:
1. Whether these measures violate the individual freedoms of the Applicants is a legal issue which will be decided by the Court when hearing the merits of the action.
2. In case a violation of a Constitutional right or law has been demonstrated, the appropriate remedy is the reimbursement of damages and not the issuance of provisional decrees.
3. The maintenance of the current state of affairs for the wider protection of the population from the Covid-19 disease entailed the rejection of the application, since health is the supreme good of man.
The Court ordered the Applicants to pay the costs of the application.
The Attorney General of the Republic was represented in court by lawyers Theano Mavromoustaki, Penelope Charalambous and Christos Alexandrou.
