A New Zealand judge rejected a man’s claim that the closure imposed in the country due to the Coronavirus causes him to be held illegally.
Judge Mary Peters said in a ruling issued Thursday that the man and his family were not subject to detention and rejected the lawsuit.
The man, whose name has not been released for legal reasons, has sued Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, General Director of Health Affairs Ashley Bloomfield and civil defense official Sarah Stuart Black, for the closure.
However, Judge Peters ruled that "the man and his family were not arrested unlawfully."
The judgment stated: "If I am wrong, and (the man) and his family are detained, then the detention is lawful."
She added: "In my opinion, the freedom to exercise (exercise) whenever they want, to go to the supermarket whenever they want, and to speak with those who wish and access the Internet whenever they want is completely different from being locked up in a closed place."
