The most ethical people on the planet.

Bingo. Now I don’t even have to post!

Observer started it, but as Eyeore says, thanks for noticin’ ;-).

I just said the same thing before I read your comment. Almost word for word the same.

Smooches.. Aqua.. sweet of you to say… Of course I am the lucky one.

Appeals against murder convictions in British courts have gone to the human rights court.

In this case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M25_Three#European_Court_of_Human_Rights_judgment

“The European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously earlier this year that their trial had been unfair and the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred their case back to court.” The UK appeal judges then quashed the conviction (rather grudgingly).

This result was probably correct.

But sometimes the ECHR seems a bit too European-liberal-ish though. For instance they are trying to force the UK to allow prisoners to vote. (I think it’s bad for felons to not be able to vote after their sentence is served. But a prison’s population could be a significant portion of the population of the town that contains the prison, which strikes me as being ripe for exploitation and corruption.)

And there was an ECHR decision that the UK’s sentencing equivalent of “life without chance of parole” is in violation of the prisoner’s human rights: according to the ECHR, there has to at least be a hearing at some point, at which the inmate could demonstrate that they have reformed, even if there’s no chance of the inmate actually being granted parole or released.

There have been other decisions, like the UK being blocked from deporting rapists back to their place of origin because doing so would deprive the person of “family life”.

In short yes: but Scientology’s lawyers will characterise the case as a violation of their clients’ freedom of religion as protected under the European Convention of Human Rights.

They can only go to the European Court of Human Rights once all legal remedies have been exhausted in the French system. That will be the case if the Cour de Cassation lets the convictions stand in next month’s ruling.

“An integral part of the $cientology Religion, under the guardianship of our Spiritual Director David Miscabbage and according to the Religious Texts of our Founder L Ron Hubtard, is to deceive and rip off our Congregation. A court of law cannot have jurisdiction in religious matters. By trying to stop us from acting fraudulently you are trying to restrain us from the free practise of our religion in the manner prescribed by our Sacred Texts, thus infringing our basic human right to practise our religion”.

No worries Jonny, it’s just the usual confusion that $cientology leaves me with. I’d be surprised if ‘I can indulge in illegal behaviour because it’s part of my religion’ cuts any ice with the French courts! NO religion is allowed to indulge in illegal behaviour, not just $cientology.