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Motorists Lose Their Case
As reported in Network in January of last year: http://www.network.mag-uk.org/jan06p2.html
The European Court of Human Rights has accepted eight motorists' applications claiming that S172 of the 1988 Road Traffic Act breaches the right to silence implicit in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
And the verdict http://tinyurl.com/2tpgdl
The Court held, by 15 votes to two, that there had been no violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Idris Francis, (appellant), said: "Today is a black day, not just for British or European drivers but for free people around the world, where the right to silence will be breached not only in motoring law but increasingly in other areas of criminal law."
"By their perverse verdict today, the judges of the ECHR have sent a crude message to law-makers - that the use of threats to secure confessions, and convictions based on those confessions, is acceptable."
"It has been unacceptable in Britain for more than 400 years, and at present remains the case for every type of criminal offence other than modest driving offences - but how long will it be before politicians and judges, having breached this vital principle, start extending it to other offences?”
“What price innocence until proven guilty now, or the necessity for the State to prove it's case beyond reasonable doubt?”
“Why should the police bother to investigate crimes when they can obtain confessions by the use of threats? How many more will confess to crimes they have not committed, because the penalties for not confessing are even worse than for the crime?"
"This defeat is a serious blow, but make no mistake - it was only one battle in the war for freedom and the defeat of tyranny.”
“Our fundamental rights have for some years been under greater threat than ever before, and the fight must go on to defeat and remove from office those who would take away our fundamental freedoms in exchange for supposed protection and security they can never deliver.
Depend upon it - this fight is not over, it has only just begun."
"The on-going tragedy of speed camera policy will now roll on, gathering more victims as it goes - despite the now overwhelming evidence that cameras cause far more problems than they solve."
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