RUSSIAN CITIZENS FAILED TO ABOLISH THE FACE MASK REQUIREMENT IN THE SUPREME COURT

A class action lawsuit on the abolition of the face mask requirement, which was filed by more than one and a half thousand people with the highest court of Russia, was not supported by the Supreme Court itself. The argument for the verdict was the position of the WHO - the international organization recommended wearing masks in conditions where it is difficult to maintain a physical distance to prevent the spread of infection.

It is curious that the plaintiffs in their argumentation also referred to the position of the WHO, voiced on December 1, 2020. According to it, in order to ensure proper prevention of the spread of infection, it is necessary to wear two masks (medical and hygienic). This means that literal adherence to the "latest" recommendations of WHO, in the event they were a priority for rule-making in Russia, would automatically turn all the participants in the trial, including the judge and the prosecutor, into offenders.

The rule on the mandatory wearing of masks established in Russia, as the plaintiff indicated in his appeal, contradicts several laws at once.

First of all, it contradicts the law on the basics of citizens' health (No. 323-FZ of November 21, 2011), in which the requirement for prevention of the disease applies only to patients, and not to the entire population of the country. Secondly, it contradicts the law on sanitary and epidemiological well-being (No. 52-FZ of March 30, 1999), which allows the introduction of the quarantine measures only in certain organizations.

According to the lawyer Alexander Saversky, representing the League of Patients and the position of the plaintiff in the court, the materials and evidence were carefully prepared, and the court listened to four medical workers, including those having doctoral degrees in medicine. They pointed out the futility of wearing medical masks outside the operating room. However, as a result, it was not possible to recognize clause 4.4 of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Rules of SR 3.1.3597-20 as invalid.

The court disagreed with the arguments and dismissed the claim.

This means that clause 1 of the Resolution of the Head of the Russian Federal State Agency for Health and Consumer Rights No. 31 of October 16, 2020 remains in force, and citizens in elevators and public places may face penalties in the absence of medical masks (according to part 2 of clause 6.3 of the Administrative Code).

Saversky said that the court ruling would now be appealed. Along with this, on April 14, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will consider another case, initiated by so-called “covid dissidents”. Citizens demand that government Decree No. 66 of January 31, 2020, according to which coronavirus infection has been added to the list of diseases that pose a danger to others, should be recognized as completely inoperative. We should recall that the list includes diseases such as leprosy, malaria, anthrax, tuberculosis, cholera, plague, human immunodeficiency virus and several others (15 items in total, not including 2019-nCoV).