Convicts in court fight for right to vote
SEVEN thousand inmates in Scottish prisons have been "unlawfully disenfranchised" ahead of the Holyrood elections, a judge was told yesterday.
Two convicts are seeking to have a parliamentary order for the holding of the election set aside in a human rights case.
Aidan O'Neill, QC, representing killer Derek Traynor and robber James Fisher, said "a political decision" has been made for the Scottish Parliament election to proceed in a way incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. He told the judge, Lord Malcolm, that the system "unlawfully disenfranchises 7,000 prisoners in Scotland". The hearing continues.