Filenews 29 December 2021
About 100 unvaccinated citizens have appealed to the courts, asking the court for a temporary injunction suspending the recent decision of the Minister of Health, which prohibits them from entering various places, such as restaurants, cafes, recreation centres or events such as weddings, christenings, sports grounds, etc. The request was registered because of an action, the trial of which is pending and concerns the distinction between vaccinated and non-vaccinated.
According to the lawyer of the protesting citizens, Yiannos Georgiadis, the minister's decision "greatly limits the social life of his clients and generally of a large part of the population, who practiced their right not to be vaccinated. The effectiveness of these measures has made vaccination mandatory, contrary to current legislation. It is obvious that the distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated was not introduced to protect public health but to force people to be vaccinated. The measures have no scientific or legal basis and are not in line with common sense. They are manifestly disproportionate and ineffective. They violate fundamental human rights."
Moreover, "they constitute Discrimination in violation of Article 28 of the Constitution, the international conventions on the Protection of Human Rights, the relevant European Regulation 2021/953 which has direct effect in the Republic of Cyprus and is not in accordance with the recent relevant resolutions of the Council of Europe, as well as contradicting the relevant opinion of the Cyprus Bioethics Committee".
According to Mr. Georgiadis "it is inconceivable on the one hand for the state to impose on citizens the antigen test for Covid-19 every 48 hours and to consider its negative indication as valid proof that it is not a carrier of the virus for the purposes of free movement and entry to airports, supermarkets, shopping centres, churches, bakeries, etc. where citizens are mixed, vaccinated and not vaccinated with each other and on the other hand to prohibit their entry despite their possession of a valid negative antigen test that they are not carriers of the virus, in restaurants, souvlaki shops, cafes, recreation centres, weddings, christenings, etc."
Mr. Georgiadis noted that in support of his positions for the issuance of a temporary decree "he will rely on two recent U.S. decisions, where a similar interim decree was issued on November 30, 2021, suspending mandatory vaccination to health officials. As he explained, the criteria for issuing such decrees in Cyprus are identical to those of America and England."
Mr. Georgiadis also referred to a recent decision of the Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights in Cyprus in relation to the mandatory vaccination imposed by the CUT on students and professors, which considered that the Foundation's decision is illegal
