A group of British prisoners have lost a compensation bid for being denied the right to vote. However, the European Court of Human Rights said in its ruling that denying them the vote was a breach of human rights. Ten prisoners took the case to the ECHR after being denied the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament on June 4, 2009. The court ruled that was a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights – right to a free election.
The judges said they had reached this conclusion because the case was the same as another prisoner voting case in the UK. In that case, the blanket ban was deemed a breach.
They accepted the UK had taken steps about the situation by producing a draft bill and a report from a committee which recommended that prisoners who were serving 12 months or less should be eligible to vote.
However, the judges observed, the legislation remained unchanged currently, therefore there was a violation of the convention.
Full Article: Prisoners Lose Voting Rights Compensation Bid.