CAMPAIGNERS, lawyers and MPs have called on the Justice Secretary to urgently review all coronavirus fines and prosecutions.
More than 40 politicians and 15 human rights groups made the demand to Dominic Raab amid claims there is “substantial evidence that thousands of people have been wrongfully fined and even prosecuted unlawfully under coronavirus-related legislation” while there are “allegations of numerous offences under these same laws in the heart of Government”.
Thousands of fines were issued by police during the pandemic for breaches of lockdown laws.
In a letter published by civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch and criminal justice watchdog Fair Trials, the signatories highlight “discriminatory, inconsistent and unlawful” enforcement of coronavirus laws.
They claim there is an “urgent need for a review of the enforcement of coronavirus-related laws and regulations, in order for justice to be served”, calling for wrongfully or unlawfully issued fines to be repaid, prosecutions withdrawn and criminal convictions rescinded.
Conservative MPs David Davis and Steve Baker, former shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti and ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as well as Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael are among those backing the call.
Griff Ferris, legal and policy officer at Fair Trials, said: “The criminal justice response to the pandemic has been heavy-handed, with police across the country criminalising thousands of people and dispensing significant financial penalties at what is a time of extreme hardship for many.
“People deserve justice, and that means refunding fines, withdrawing prosecutions, and deleting criminal records.”
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, added: “This Government has thrown the country into a rule of law crisis and urgent action is needed to protect justice.
“We have set out how thousands of people have been unlawfully fined and prosecuted by a broken justice system, under constantly changing coronavirus laws, the most restrictive in British peacetime.
“It is an insult and grave injustice for innocent people who have found themselves wrongly criminalised, whilst allegations of law-breaking engulf Downing Street.”
The Ministry of Justice said the policy was overseen by the Home Office, which has been contacted for comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel