The claimant, serving a long jail sentence, said that as a Buddhist, he needed a meat free diet. This was granted at first for medical reasons, but then withdrawn. All attempts failed, and he was mistreated by prison guards. The prison service denied any obligation to provide a diet special to his religious beliefs.
Held: ‘despite the margin of appreciation left to the respondent State, the Court finds that the authorities failed to strike a fair balance between the interests of the prison authorities and those of the applicant, namely the right to manifest his religion through observance of the rules of the Buddhist religion.’
Judges:
Nicolas Bratza, P
Citations:
18429/06, [2010] ECHR 1974, [2011] Eq LR 197, 30 BHRC 417, (2012) 55 EHRR 8
Links:
Statutes:
European Convention on Human Rights, European Prison Rules
Cited by:
Cited – Kevin Fox v United Kingdom ECHR 20-Mar-2012
The claimant said that he had been severely assaulted by police officers when being arrested. He had been ‘tasered’ four times at least. The taser had been applied directly to the skin, rater than from a distance, and psychiatrist compared it to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Prisons
Updated: 28 August 2022; Ref: scu.426978