12/08/2014

ECHR Rule For Prisoner Right To Vote

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that while the UK government has breached prisoners right by continuing to not allow them the vote, a claim for compensation has been denied.

The court found that the government has violated "Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 because the case was identical to another prisoner voting case in which a breach of the right to vote had been found and the relevant legislation had not yet been amended."

The court said that the both the current coalition and the previous Labour government had failed to amend legislation despite an earlier ECHR ruling.

It did however reject a claim for compensation, brought by a group of ten prisoners as part of the legal challenge over the right to vote.

The full report can be found here.

(MH/CD)

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