McLibel Two win final victory at Strasbourg

by: Peace News

Worldwide: On Tuesday morning the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found in favour of the two anti-McDonald\\\'s campaigners when it ruled that Helen Steel and Dave Morris had not received a fair trial and that their freedom of expression was violated. The pair had argued that the English libel laws - for which no legal aid is available - had denied them freedon of speech, as protected under Article 10 of the Convention.

Standing outside McDonald\\\'s on the Strand in central London (where the trouble all began ... see http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/index.html">http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/index.html for the whole story), the pair looked delighted - if slightly startled by the media frenzy going on before them.

As well as offering a grand finale to a set of legal cases which began 20 years ago, the ECHR ruling also calls into question the legal aid rules. The British government\'s Department for Constitutional Affairs are said to be taking a look at the implications.

Speaking at their press conference Helen said \"Hopefully the government will be forced to change the law and that will mean greater freedom of speech\".

Note
Peace News covered the McLibel trial extensively and you can read the 18 articles we currently hava available online here.

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