Fair Trials has responded to the news that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak have today been fined for breaking coronavirus regulations during the lockdown.
The Metropolitan Police have been investigating alleged lockdown breaches at Downing Street and have issued more than 50 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to those in government, which now include the two most senior Conservative party members.
Norman Reimer, Fair Trials Global CEO says:
“The Covid pandemic has created a two-tiered criminal justice system in the UK, where the privileged few at the heart of government have more rights than the thousands of ordinary people who were fined even for negligible violations of the rules. The Prime Minister is due to be fined for his conduct, but the Fixed Penalty Notice against him has been issued only after he had the opportunity to present his case with the help of legal advice – a privilege not afforded to the rest of us.
“The entire coronavirus enforcement regime has proved itself to be outrageously disproportionate, discriminatory and shambolic. Public health issues call for education and leadership – not criminalisation and punishment. The only way forward is for all Covid prosecutions to be dropped, and for all fines to be refunded.”
An ongoing review by the Crown Prosecution Service found that hundreds of people were wrongly charged and prosecuted under the Health Protection (Restrictions, Coronavirus) Regulations and the Coronavirus Act 2020. One third of prosecutions overall were found to be wrongfully brought. Fair Trials has previously called for an end to all Covid-related prosecutions in the UK, asking for all fines and convictions to be rescinded and for criminal records to be deleted.
