The TSJCV authorizes the extension of the 'curfew' and the limitation to a maximum of 10 people in social gatherings

The Fourth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) has authorized the limitation to a maximum of 10 people of social and family gatherings throughout the Valencian Community and the restriction of night mobility between the 1 and 6 hours in the 77 towns with more than 5.000 inhabitants that present a greater epidemiological risk from Covid-19, among which are six municipalities in the region: Dénia, Gata de Gorgos, Pego, Calp, Ondara and Teulada-Moraira .

These measures are contained in a resolution of the Conselleria de Sanidad Universal dated this July 21 and will be in force during the period between July 26 and August 16.

The Chamber considers that they are "balanced" measures, since they derive from them "more benefits for the general interest - containment of the pandemic - than damage to other assets or values ​​in conflict", while complying with the "constitutional judgment of proportionality" .

Terrace in Xàbia

The order -which has the dissenting vote of one of the magistrates, referring exclusively to the limitations to the meetings of people, and which can be appealed in cassation- alludes to the expansion of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, the exponential growth of contagions, the increase in hospitalizations and the "situation close to the collapse that is already taking place in Primary Care centers."

With these circumstances, described in the epidemiological evolution report attached to the Administration's request, the Court concludes that the proposed measures to contain the spread of the virus are necessary, appropriate and proportionate, therefore they comply with the "constitutional judgment of proportionality." .

The TSJCV has examined the ruling of the Constitutional Court of July 14 that declared unconstitutional the general confinement decreed by the central government with the first state of alarm as it is a suspension of the right to free movement.

Unlike that situation, the Chamber understands that the 'curfew' does not suspend that right but rather limits it, since "it only commits five hours a day in the night time slot (from 1,00:6,00 to 19:XNUMX)" and "During the remaining XNUMX hours of the day, anyone has intact their freedom of movement anywhere."

In addition, "the entire spatial scope of the Autonomous Community is not even concerned in that 5-hour night period, since the measure affects only the municipalities most affected by the virus, and not the entire Community," it states. .

According to the order, the measures proposed by the Conselleria de Sanidad Universal meet the requirements established for their adoption by the recent jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, since their “substantive justification (…) is at the level of intensity and extension of the restriction of fundamental rights What is it about".

They are necessary and suitable measures - he points out - to interrupt the spread of SARS-Cov-2, since "they concern the framework of social relations and unregulated nightlife", which are the main causes of infections.

The Court affects the judgment of necessity and maintains that there are no other “more moderate measures to achieve the purpose with equal effectiveness”.

In fact, the Chamber refers again to the ruling of the Constitutional Court of last July 14, according to which it must be prosecuted if the measure is necessary "because there is no other less incisive in the fundamental right and of equal effectiveness".

"The practical experience that we now have and is shown in the reference justifications is that measures more lax than those in question here have not worked correctly," point out the magistrates, who cite a report from the Unit in support of that conclusion. of the National Police Attached to the Valencian Community provided together with the request of the Generalitat.