ONE IN TWO HASN'T PAID THE OUT OF COURT FINE RE COVID

 Filenews 27 October 2020 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis

One in two citizens who have been denounced so far since the beginning of the epidemic with the crown, has not paid the out-of-court order and will be brought before the Court of Justice.

This is apparent from the data of the Police according to which, most complaints of premises and citizens were made in Nicosia and Limassol, followed by Paphos. According to data provided to "F" by the sergeant of the Police Press Office Marina Christodoulidou, since 11 March when the decrees of the Ministry of Health began to apply to date, 13,303 citizens have been denounced for their non-compliance. Of these, 6,600 have paid the out-of-court fine within the time frame provided for by law, while the remaining 6,700 have failed to pay for it and according to the law will be brought to trial. The reasons why so many thousands of citizens have not paid the fine, which was originally €85 and then became €150, vary and relate either to the fact that they consider the complaint unfair, or because they are unable to afford to pay due to unemployment or because they oppose the measures.

Already, according to the information of the "F", cases concerning the violation of the measures against the crown are registered by dozens in the Courts and most of the excuses mentioned are that they tried to pay the out-of-court but the system had a problem, or showed them that it was paid but in the end this was not done because of the bank. Courts often do not impose an additional fine unless there is insufficient justification.

Meanwhile, since the change in legislation that has become more stringent for those who do not comply with the decrees, i.e. from 1 August until today, there have been dozens of complaints from citizens about violating the decrees. In particular, in the province of Nicosia 524 citizens (the majority of them for masking) and 152 premises were reported, in Limassol there were 454 complaints of citizens and 144 premises, 343 out-of-court documents were issued to citizens and 71 to premises, while 136 citizens were reported to Paphos and 255 cases. Also, 255 civilians and 51 businesses were reported in the free area of Famagusta and 91 out-of-court cases were issued to civilians and 22 to premises.

Police in the last 24 hours have made 95 complaints of violations of orders to limit the spread of coronavirus. A total of 92 citizens and three premises were reported out of 1,428 checks carried out. Most citizens' complaints were made in Larnaca (40).