In a decision published on Thursday 20 May, the European Court of Human Rights ruled for the first time on a case concerning last spring’s lockdown in response to the pandemic. It ruled that this did not constitute a “deprivation of liberty”.
The request was made by Romanian MEP Cristian-Vasile Terhes (ECR). Elected in 2019 on the list of the Social Democratic Party of Romania, he was in his country when the state of emergency was declared on 24 March 2020.
In his statement of grievance, the complainant argued that the lockdown he endured for 52 days constituted a deprivation of liberty of an administrative, extra-judicial and non-individualised nature with no clear legal basis, thus contravening Articles 5 and 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Arguing that the exceptional circumstances were unforeseeable, that the competent authorities had been consulted beforehand, that the measure was not individual in nature and that the applicant was able to leave his home for certain purposes, the Court did not agree and declared his application inadmissible, considering that it did not constitute “house arrest”.
Link to the Court’s decision: https://bit.ly/2Rwlw48 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)