Health Office: Only Constitutional Court Can Assess Lawfulness of COVID Measures

Bratislava, February 15 (TASR) - The right to assess the lawfulness of generally binding legal directives and their accord with the Slovak Constitution rests exclusively with the Constitutional Court, the Public Health Office stated on Thursday with respect to a proposal to introduce a general pardon for misdemeanours committed during the COVID-19 state of emergency. The Public Health Office pointed out that the Constitutional Court had repeatedly looked into its pandemic directives and found no violation of basic human rights and freedoms. "Chief Hygienist Tatiana Cervenova will present her opinion on the COVID amnesty in the following days to Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova," stated spokesperson Dasa Rackova. Earlier in the day, Government Proxy for Investigation of Pandemic and MP Peter Kotlar (SNS) proposed the government to grant a general pardon for misdemeanours committed during the COVID-19 emergency state. In his view, this proposal is geared towards the "rectification of unconstitutional intervention [by the Public Health Office] into the rights and freedoms of the citizens of the Slovak Republic and the elimination of unconstitutional imposition of duties during the so-called state of emergency in the period of the so-called COVID-19 pandemic". mf/mcs