European court rejects MEP claim that Romania’s first lockdown was ‘house arrest’

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ruled a case in which a Romanian MEP claimed the country’s Spring 2020 lockdown amounted to a deprivation of liberty inadmissible, the court announced.

The measure “could not be equated with house arrest”, the court’s decision reads. “The level of restrictions on the applicant’s freedom of movement had not been such that the general lockdown ordered by the authorities could be deemed to constitute a deprivation of liberty.”

Cristian-Vasile Terheş, an MEP with the Euroskeptic ECR group, was relying on Article 5 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states the right to liberty and security, for his challenge to Romanian authorities’ lockdown measures from 24 March to 14 May 2020. The lockdown prohibited Romanians from leaving their homes under all but a limited number of circumstances, with anyone going outside required to carry a document to justify their trip.

Terheş’ party, the Christian Democratic National Peasants’ Party questioned the gravity of the pandemic on its social media accounts back in 2020.

Terheş first presented a case locally, by bringing an action to the Bucharest County Court claiming the restrictions amounted to “administrative detention.” This action however became devoid of purpose when lockdown was lifted in Romania in June 2020.