Man is sentenced in prison for coughing at police in Denmark

A man tried in Denmark for having coughed a few inches from two policemen shouting “corona“. He was found guilty on Thursday of “attempted violence” to public agents. He was sentenced to four months in jail, the Supreme Court announced.

On March 29, in the middle of a semi-confinement, this 20-year-old individual was driving back from a birthday party in Aarhus (west), when the police carried out a routine check.

Then he shouted “corona”and coughed over the officers, who were about 50 centimeters away. The man, who had no COVID-19 later explained that he acted under the influence of alcohol. The policemen detained him.

Acquitted in the first instance, he was sentenced on appeal to three months in prison, a penalty that was later reinforced by new legal provisions, according to the Supreme Court.

“Article 119, paragraph 1, includes both violence and the other forms of physical aggression mentioned in the penal code, paragraph 244 (on violence) and this last provision includes infection by coronavirus” the court stated in a statement.