Černiauskas and Partners Law firm criminal law division advocates and lawyers are ready to answer all your questions as quickly as possible, so that we can overcome these temporary difficulties in good faith and in solidarity.

Thus, taking into account the global pandemic of COVID-19 virus announced by the World Health Organization and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania 2020 March 14 Resolution no. 207 (hereinafter – the Resolution [1]), by which the quarantine regime and other processes that have emerged in society have been introduced in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, our lawyers feel obliged to draw your attention to the most important issues related to criminal/administrative law.

[1] https://www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalAct/73c0b060663111eabee4a336e7e6fdab – text of the resolution.

 

Liability for violation of the quarantine regime:

  • Certain commercial activities are discontinued due to COVID-19 and the applicable quarantine regime, and persons meeting certain criteria must comply with the established quarantine regime.
  • Paragraph 1 of Article 277 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania provides for the liability of persons who have violated the requirements of legal acts on health protection or the rules of control of the prevention of communicable diseases, if this has caused an outbreak or epidemic. Both natural and legal persons can be prosecuted.
  • Paragraph 2 of Article 277 of the Criminal Code provides for the liability of natural persons who, while being informed by a medical institution and alerted to the protective measures with which they are required to interact with humans, have put another person at risk of contracting a serious infectious disease. Thus, criminal liability may be imposed even if the breaches of the rules have not led to the spread of the infection – it is sufficient that there has been such a threat. True, in this case, the sick person must be informed by the medical institution about his illness and acquainted with the rules to be followed during the illness and / or other period specified by the medical institution.
  • Non-compliance with the imposed quarantine prohibitions and restrictions, which did not have the consequences provided for in the Criminal Code, incur liability under Articles 45 and 46 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Natural persons shall be liable for the commission of administrative offenses, and the heads of legal persons shall be liable for violations of quarantine prohibitions or restrictions committed by a legal person.
  • It is important that non-compliance or late execution of municipal council decisions or orders of directors of municipal administrations to combat outbreaks and epidemics of communicable diseases also entails liability.
  • The Criminal Code also provides for liability for the deliberate harassment of another person, therefore, if it is established that COVID-19 has been intentionally infected, other articles of the Criminal Code may be prosecuted; taking into account the consequences for human / human health (eg homicide, serious or minor health impairment).

In this way, persons who do not comply with the quarantine regime, for example, carry out prohibited commercial activities, do not comply with the isolation period of at least 14 days from the moment of return to the territory of the Republic of Lithuania may be prosecuted.

A distinction must be made between mandatory quarantine prohibitions / obligations and recommendations. All bans and obligations related to the pandemic and quarantine are made public, so in the face of ever-changing situations, we encourage you to comply with the state’s bans and obligations and to follow the guidelines in a civil and deliberate manner and if you have legal questions, contact a professional lawyer.

 

Liability for the spread of hatred towards certain persons

It is clear that there is a lot of debate in society about the state of emergency, different attitudes towards the dangers of the situation also lead to a reaction of people to people infected with COVID-19 that goes beyond tolerable criticism.

The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania enshrines the right of a person to have his or her convictions and to express them freely. However, the state’s basic law also provides that freedom of expression and dissemination of information is incompatible with criminal activity.

  • Article 154 of the Criminal Code prohibits the dissemination of false, degrading information about individuals.
  • Article 170 of the Criminal Code also provides for liability for spreading contempt, incitement to hatred, incitement to violence, bullying, etc. directed against certain groups of people. It is clear that this rule may also apply to the illegal actions referred to in the article against persons who are infected with COVID-19.

 

Non-pecuniary damage may also be awarded if the court finds illegal actions and finds the perpetrators guilty of such actions.

In accordance with the above-mentioned regulations, we urge you not to spread hatred, to act consciously and tolerantly, and to contact law enforcement authorities and professional lawyers immediately if you notice possible criminal acts or illegal actions against you or other persons.

 

Liability for the illegal collection / dissemination of information about COVID-19 infected persons

In the media and in press conferences the efforts to obtain and disseminate all information on persons infected with COVID-19 are being monitored, and it should be recalled that:

  • Data relating to the health of a natural person are classified as special personal data, the disclosure of which is restricted in order to ensure the inviolability of the privacy of the individual and of his or her personal health. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania has repeatedly noted this in its practice.
  • The Law on Public Information of the Republic of Lithuania also provides for restrictions on the publication and dissemination of certain information, and information related to the state of health of other personal data stored in accordance with the General Personal Data Protection Regulation falls within the scope of restrictions.
  • Chapter XXIV of the Criminal Code sets out a number of offenses relating to breaches of a person’s privacy (one of the areas of privacy is the right of every patient not to have information about his or her health, for example, the information occurred in social media about violated with Covid-19 infected persons rights and information about their identity and state of health without their consent.
  • Article 167 of the Criminal Code establishes liability for the unlawful collection of information about a person’s private life, which encroaches on the privacy of the person. It is considered that the group of such information also includes highly sensitive information related to the state of health of persons, other information from which persons could be identified, such as place of work, position held, place of residence, etc.

Non-pecuniary damage may also be awarded if the court finds illegal actions and finds the perpetrators guilty of such actions.

We call on everyone to ensure the protection of human rights, to respect the privacy of individuals, to be aware of the consequences that may arise from the desire to know, and to be honest and ethical in journalism, and to contact law enforcement and professional lawyers immediately if violations are detected.