Eastern High Court convicts Vibeke Manniche for unauthorised coronavirus certificates
Vibeke Manniche is sentenced to 20 days conditional imprisonment for issuing approximately 20 covid-test exemption declarations without authorisation.
High court changes legal grounds but upholds conditional sentence for Manniche
Vibeke Manniche has been sentenced on Wednesday to 20 days conditional imprisonment by the Eastern High Court for issuing covid-19 exemption declarations without authorisation. This is reported by B.T.
The court has found her guilty of violating paragraph 131 of the Criminal Code, which concerns acts without authorisation. The declarations were issued in 2021, and the case has thus been ongoing for several years.
Manniche is a trained physician, but does not have permission to practise as a doctor or have patient contact. Nevertheless, she issued approximately 20 certificates exempting people from covid tests and received payment for doing so.
— She is acting without authorisation, says prosecutor Line Scharf from the Public Prosecutor's Office in Copenhagen.
Manniche has denied guilt and has explained during the case that the declarations were not medical certificates, but declarations of faith and oath. She has also stated that people sought her out themselves to obtain the documents.
Different legal grounds than in the district court
When the Court in Lyngby decided the case at the end of 2024, Manniche was likewise sentenced to 20 days conditional imprisonment — but at that time for violation of the Medical Practitioners Act and paragraph 130 of the Criminal Code, which concerns exercising public authority without having the right to do so.
The High Court has reached a different conclusion regarding the legal grounds. According to prosecutor Scharf, the judges do not believe that Manniche exercised a public function.
— They do not believe that she performed a public function, but rather that she acted without authorisation, and therefore it is instead paragraph 131, says Line Scharf.
That the Medical Practitioners Act does not apply is due to lack of evidence that she has represented herself to anyone as being a physician.
— There has been no one in court to testify that they had a conversation with her where she claimed to be a doctor, says the prosecutor.
No supplementary fine — and possible appeal to the Supreme Court
The prosecutor had requested a supplementary fine of 50,000 kroner, but since Manniche is acquitted of violating the Medical Practitioners Act, the fine is withdrawn.
According to the prosecutor, the conditional nature of the sentence is justified by the fact that Manniche has no criminal record and by the fact that the case has taken a long time. A conditional sentence does not as a rule entail imprisonment.
Defence counsel Eddie Khawaja states that he and Manniche will consider whether the case should be brought before the Supreme Court — a possibility that arises precisely because the High Court has convicted on a provision that was not included in the original charge sheet.
Source: B.T.