Colchester lawyer fights landmark human rights case
A leading Colchester lawyer is fighting an international human rights case at the E
uropean Court of Human Rights, which could change electoral law across Europe.
Tony Fisher from Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP recently travelled to the Grand Chamber of the European Court in Strasbourg to represent Kurdish MPs Mehmet Yumak and Resul Sadak in a landmark case which involves a challenge to an electoral rule in Turkey.
Mr Fisher explained: “In Turkey a political party has to gain 10 per cent of the national vote before any of its candidates can take up any seats in the Turkish parliament. This means that parties who represent significant minorities such as the Kurdish people cannot get elected to parliament even if they win a large number of individual seats. As a result more than 45 per cent of the votes cast in Turkey’s 2002 national election were ignored and MPs such as Mr Yumak and Mr Sadak were not able to take their seats in parliament and represent the people who had voted for them.”
“The case initially went against the applicants, however their Turkish lawyer got permission to appeal and asked me to help . Consequently we both appeared before 20 of the judges at the Grand Chamber a few weeks ago. If a decision is reached in our favour it could have significant implications for electoral thresholds like this in a large number of European states.”
Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP which has office in the town centre and at Colchester Business Park is internationally renowned for its human rights work. Mr Fisher who chairs the International Human Rights Committee at the Law Society added: “Very few human rights cases from the 46 countries which have signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights make it to the Grand Chamber of the European Court, so it was a great honour to take part and a great experience. It is indicative of the variety of work we do here at Fisher Jones Greenwood, and the contacts that we have all over Europe and the rest of the world.”
The outcome of the Yumak and Sadak case will be announced in a few months.