In the first decision of the Irish courts overturning a conviction on the basis of a decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the High Court yesterday quashed the conviction of a Co Limerick man for failing to give gardaí an account of his movements.
Although Mr Paul Quinn, who served a six-month sentence on the charge, won a challenge to his prosecution before the ECHR in 2001, the State and Government had opposed requests from his solicitors to quash the conviction.
In proceedings initiated in 1997, Mr Quinn, a computer technical support analyst, of Faha, Patrickswell, had successfully sued the State before the European Court, which found that the prosecution against him, brought in 1997 under Section 52 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939, breached his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The European Court of Human Rights, in a judgment which became final in March 2001, found that there had been violation of Mr Quinn's right to silence, his privilege against self-incrimination and his presumption of innocence, as guaranteed by the convention, and it directed that Mr Quinn receive £4,000 compensation from the State.
After the European Court decision, Mr Quinn complained that, although the Strasbourg ruling had found that his conviction of July 1996 under Section 52 was "a direct consequence" of the violation of the convention, it remained in place and on record. His solicitors had written to the DPP and Attorney General in April 2001 asking them to consent to such action as was required to have the conviction set aside.
