Compensation for Covid fines has started in Slovenia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Slovenian citizens were fined. Now the government has decided to restore justice and return money to people.

And the amount is not small – from March 2020 to May 2022 it amounted to about 5.7 million euros. At the same time, people were punished even for very minor violations. True, not all the money will be returned – according to the bill developed by the country’s center-left government, 1.7 million euros will be returned from the total amount. It is also reported that all violations will be removed from the official records of citizens, and legal proceedings to collect fines will be stopped.

Dominique Schwartz-Pipan, the current justice minister, described the bill, passed in September, as an attempt to compensate for the excesses of pandemic policing under the previous government, “the injustices that were committed against citizens through the abuse of criminal law, unconstitutional and excessive attacks on human rights.”

Regarding injustice… A typical case is that of a courier who was having a snack on a deserted street, lowering his mask. He was photographed surrounded by police eager to punish the person responsible for not wearing a mask – the fine was 400 euros (!). A photo of the incident posted on the Internet caused discontent among many Slovenians, who considered the police’s enforcement of the restrictions to be excessive.

Among the measures introduced by the right-wing government were restrictions on gatherings and movement, as well as a mandatory mask requirement when outdoors. The most stringent restrictions, as in other countries, caused protests by ordinary citizens, complementing the radical protests of opponents of vaccination.

A center-left coalition replaced the government in the last parliamentary elections held in April 2022. Among the key issues of the election campaign was public concern about the authoritarianism of the previous administration, which many Slovenians believed was leading the country the way of Hungary. writes euronews. Prime Minister Robert Golob said after his election: “This victory will allow us to return the country to freedom.”

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