The Denmark Supreme Court has sentenced a man to four months' imprisonment for coughing at two police officers while shouting “corona” during a routine traffic stop in March last year. According to a report on the IoL site, the incident, which took place when the country was under full coronavirus lockdown, led to the defendant being arrested on charges of threatening behaviour, although he later tested negative for COVID-19.
First acquitted in a local court, he was later convicted at the Denmark Western High Court. At his Supreme Court appeal against that conviction, prosecutors sought a jail term of three to five months.
Other similar incidents were reported in Denmark last year, partly reflecting declining public trust in the government's handling of the COVID-19 crisis, while similar cases were reported in the UK, the US and Canada.
The Danish defendant, a man in his early twenties, was also convicted of fleeing the police following his preliminary questioning at the city court.
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/news/world/denmark-jails-man-for-4-months-for-coughing-at-police-3e830464-626b-5a46-881a-85545b6121ac"]Full report on the IoL site (Open access)[/link]