A German physician has been sentenced to 2 years and 9 months in jail for illegally issuing greater than 4,000 folks with exemptions from carrying masks in the course of the coronavirus pandemic.

Public broadcaster SWR reported that a regional court docket within the southwestern city of Weinheim convicted the physician late Monday for issuing certificates to folks from throughout Germany, most of whom she had by no means met or examined. In the course of the trial she had argued that carrying masks was dangerous to folks’s well being.

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Along with the jail sentence she was handed a three-year work ban and ordered to pay 28,000 euros ($29,550), the sum she had acquired for issuing the medical certificates. Her workplace assistant was fined 2,700 euros.

The physician’s lawyer intends to enchantment the decision, SWR reported.

Dozens of supporters gathered outdoors the court docket in Weinheim, north of Heidelberg, to protest towards the decision and Germany’s pandemic restrictions.

Germany ended necessities to put on masks in lots of indoor settings final 12 months, although they’re nonetheless obligatory on long-distance trains, in docs’ practices, hospitals, nursing properties and on some regional public transport.