In both cases fines were given for breaches of 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. Two judgments were handed down on Thursday 10 November. Two women who organized and participated in a party in Sandviken in Bergen have their acquittal overturned in the Court of Appeal, while a man in Oslo has his appeal dismissed. Background: Repeal 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 10,000 and NOK 5,000 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. The Court of Appeal held that the municipality was building on a too “narrow medical scientific basis”. A unanimous Supreme Court disagrees on this. “Based on my understanding of the content of the Infection Control Act § 1-5, there is no basis for finding that the city council made procedural errors, or that the ban on private gatherings with more than five people was not based on a clear medical rationale,” concludes judge Kine Steinsvik. – We are of course satisfied to have won with our appeal and that the Supreme Court shares our understanding of the law, says state attorney Rudolf Christoffersen. – The Supreme Court has sent the case on for a new hearing in the Gulating Court of Appeal. We must take a closer look at whether the appeal should be upheld according to the Supreme Court’s assessments. We have not drawn any conclusions yet, says defender John Christian Elden. Rejects appeal in Oslo The case in Oslo concerns a party in March 2021, when there was a ban on attending private parties 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 and the appeal is thus rejected by the Supreme Court: “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 in Sections 1–5 of the Swedish Infection Control Act were thus met. Nor did the ban violate the right to privacy according to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),’ the Supreme Court summarizes in a press release.
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Bans against private parties during the pandemic were valid – news Vestland
