Another blow against anti-Masonic bigotry

The European Court of Human Rights today published a judgement which found against a body discriminating against Freemasons in Italy. The judgement will have effect in all the States making up the ECHR - including the United Kingdom.

The Court held by six votes to one that there had been a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights taken in conjunction with Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association).

As far as damages were concerned, under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court held, unanimously, that the finding of a violation constituted in itself sufficient just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage and awarded the applicant association 5,000 euros for costs and expenses.

The full judgement is available only in French, but a quite comprehensive English Language Press Release may be found by clicking the following link.

http://tinyurl.com/3d2qhl