Speed camera pair lose final appeal
LONDON (Reuters) - Two campaigning motorists lost a last legal appeal on Friday against speed camera laws, which they claim breach their human rights.
Retired company director Idris Francis, 67, and pensioner Gerard O'Halloran argued that current rules force car owners to incriminate themselves.
They said the centuries-old right to silence should allow drivers caught on camera to refuse to confirm to police who was at the wheel.
But judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg voted by 15-2 to reject their case.
"The court did not accept the applicants' argument that the right to remain silent and the right not to incriminate oneself were absolute rights," the court said in a statement.
"Those who choose to keep and drive cars could be taken to have accepted certain responsibilities and obligations."
Francis said the ruling marked a "black day for justice and freedom" and showed how people's rights are being eroded by "tyrants".
"In my view it is a perverse decision," he said. "I find it totally extraordinary. The fight for freedom goes on. We can't allow the tyrants ... to succeed." Continued...
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