Fines imposed on citizens by police for breaking lockdown restrictions can be cancelled.
The Constitutional Court made its ruling in response to a lawsuit brought by Spain’s far-right Vox party. Vox leader Santiago Abascal called Wednesday for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to step down.
“We cannot celebrate the decision because we have proof that the government was willing to break the law and tarnish the constitution,” Abascal said.
Spain’s government was not legally able to issue a strict lockdown order last spring, the country’s Constitutional Court has ruled.
Six of the court’s eleven judges ruled that the 14 March 2020 decree that introduced the state of health emergency was “unconstitutional and void”.
During the first wave of the pandemic, Spain only permitted citizens to travel outside alone to collect essential supplies, medicine, go to work, get medical treatment, or assist dependent people. The strict state of health emergency lasted for 98 days before restrictions on movement were lifted.
During the first six-week confinement period, Spaniards could not go out even for exercise.