Fake PCR tests at airport: one year in jail
There was a time, early in the pandemic, when we believed that the dramatic experience of Covid-19 would change us in [...]
There was a time, early in the pandemic, when we believed that the dramatic experience of Covid-19 would change us for the better. We hoped that suffering globally would trigger something in us, prompting us to have more respect for one another. A pure illusion, as the case of the Brussels airport well demonstrates. Hundreds of people have tried to Overcoming controls by falsifying their documents, endangering the health of other passengers and staff on board and on the ground. An act that some of them paid dearly for.
False Covid test: jail time triggered
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A man tried to circumvent current travel rules in terms of health protection against the spread of Covid-19. A case that has generated a huge response in Europe, since a false negative test, but especially because of the legal consequences that followed.
He was in fact sentenced to as much as 12 months in prison and will have to pay a 1,600 euro large fine. He was certainly not the only one who ended up under trial for what he did, but he is the individual who, for now, will have to pay the heaviest price. The reason is that he endangered the health of passengers and staff, since he later tested positive for Covid.
Another 11 passengers were convicted for the same reason. Although the amount of the fine remains the same, the expected jail time for them is six months, having tested negative for the swabbing done at the airport by the relevant authorities. Only four appeared in the courtroom. At the end of the various trials, the judges decided on a six-month suspended prison sentence and 800 euros fine for one and 60 hours of community service as an alternative to one year in prison for the others. A total of as many as 160 travelers will be brought to court, Belga News Agency reported.
If this seems like a huge number, it is definitely minimal when compared to the total number of those fined in the last few months alone. These are. 820 people, all guilty of submitting a false negative PCR test. In most cases, the cases quickly ended with the payment of a 750-euro fine. In some cases, however, travelers decided to appeal the fine.
The court's judgment
Absolutely reckless behavior, with a large number of people considering their own travel far more important than the health and lives of others, the court explained in its ruling.
"There are few examples in the textbooks of such self-serving behavior," it reads. "The defendants deliberately endangered others by placing their own freedom to travel above the public interest and in particular above others' right to life. For those citizens who do not feel any concern for the health of their peers, the court believes that the only appropriate response is severe punishment, so that they understand how inadmissible certain actions are."
