EUROPEAN COURT: Human rights roundup (1)
01 July 1994
Selected cases dealt with at Strasbourg March-May 1994:
The Commission declared admissible (cases that will proceed):
Wingrove v UK (No 17419/90): refusal to grant classification certificate to "blasphemous" video: Art 10 (free expression).
H v Sweden (No 22408/93): threatened deportation to country where fear of execution or lengthy imprisonment for desertion: Art 3 (inhuman or degrading treatment).
June Buckley v UK (No 20348/92): demand by local authority that gypsy remove her caravan from her family's land after refusal of planning permission: Art 8 (family and private life).
Said Andr Remli v France (No 16839/90): alleged lack of impartiality of jury, a member of which claimed he was a racist: Arts 6(1) 14 (fair trial, no discrimination).
The Commission communicated to governments for their comments:
An application (No 22009/93 v Finland) on the use in criminal proceedings of medical records seized by police disclosing that the applicant and her husband were HIV-positive.
Applications (Nos 21825/93 23414/93) on the inability of members of the armed forces to obtain their medical records to bring proceedings for compensation for injuries resulting from their exposure to nuclear tests in the 1950s.
An application (No 23389/94 v UK) on the absence of a right of review of detention "at her Majesty's pleasure".
The Commission reported on the following cases which it referred to the Court:
Savage, Farrell and McCann: the killing by the SAS of three unarmed IRA members in Gibraltar in 1988: Art 2 (right to life). The Commission ruled by 11:6 that the killing was justified.
Goodwin v UK: the fining of a journalist for contempt of court for refusing to reveal his sources: Art 10 (freedom of expression). The Commission ruled that Art 10 had been breached: the protection of the sources from which journalists derive information is an essential means of enabling the press to perform its important function of "public watchdog" in a democratic society.
The Court held a hearing in the following case:
Jersild v Denmark: the conviction of the applicant for aiding and abetting the dissemination of racist statements (broadcast interview with racist thugs): Art 10 (freedom of expression).
Keegan v Ireland (26.5.94): the placement for adoption of baby without the knowledge or consent of the natural father, who had no right to custody of the child, breached Art 8 (family life) and 6 (fair hearing).
Reorganisation of procedure
Protocol 11 of the European Convention (ECHR), which replaces the two-tier system of Commission and Court by a single, permanent and full-time Court (see Statewatch vol 4 no 3) was opened for signature in June.