In both cases, a fine was given for violating the ban on private gatherings with several participants. The defendants claimed that the bans were invalid, and that they could therefore not be punished. This has not been supported by the Supreme Court. Judgment was handed down on Thursday 10 November. In the judgment, the Supreme Court argues that the strict rules had a good enough basis in section 4.1 of the Infection Control Act: “In the Supreme Court’s view, the regulation was also based on a clear medical rationale, and the ban was not disproportionate. The basic requirements of § 1-5 of the Swedish Infection Control Act were thus met. The ban also did not violate the right to privacy according to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), writes the Supreme Court in a press release. Background: Cancels acquittal in Bergen It was in November 2020 that the police raided two parties in Bergen. At one of these parties, in Sandviken, 15 people gathered. But local regulations said at the time that a maximum of five people could be packed together. Bergen was in a period with very high infection rates and vaccination of the population was still a long way off. Two women who were fined NOK 5,000 and NOK 10,000 respectively for organizing and participating in the party, refused to pay them. They lost the case in the Hordaland District Court, while they won in the Gulating Court of Appeal. Rejects appeal in Oslo The case in Oslo concerns a party in March 2021, when there was a ban on attending private gatherings with more than two people outside of one’s own household. There, a man attended a party with a total of three participants, and was fined NOK 20,000, which he appealed to the Supreme Court. But the court does not agree with the man that the regulation was invalid.
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Bans against private gatherings during the pandemic were valid – news Vestland
