The Strasbourg court has ruled that the quarantine announced for the fight against the spread of the coronavirus cannot be equated with house arrest, does not violate the right to liberty, the summary prepared by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation says.

The decision was made at the request of a Romanian citizen, who complained that the 52-day quarantine applied to him was equivalent to imprisonment. He claimed that he was not infected with the virus, did not communicate with the infected.

According to the summary, in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic, a state of emergency has been declared in Romania due to public health reasons. Citizens were prohibited from leaving their homes under the threat of a fine, except in strictly defined cases and a document confirming the existence of a valid reason.

The court found that the intensity of the restriction on the applicant’s freedom of movement was not such that general quarantine was considered a deprivation of liberty.

The court accepted that the epidemic can have very serious consequences not only for health, but also for the whole society, economy, state activity, life in general.

The ECtHR ruled that the applicant could have left the house for good reasons as provided by law. He was not subject to individual control by the authorities, he did not claim that he was forced to live in a narrow area, he was not deprived of all social contacts.

“Consequently, the conditions of quarantine cannot be equated with house arrest, equivalent to ‘imprisonment’ in judicial practice,” the document reads.