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Judgment handed down in Buckley v the Attorney General in which Josh Hitchens appeared

Judgment handed down in Buckley v the Attorney General in which Josh Hitchens appeared

The Supreme Court of St Helena has handed down judgment in the constitutional case of Buckley v the Attorney General in which Josh Hitchens acted for the Plaintiff.

Mr Buckley was a remand prisoner detained in HMP Jamestown, a prison which has been repeatedly condemned as inadequate and unsuitable. At the end of trial, the Defendant conceded that the unsafe conditions within the prison violated the Defendant’s positive obligations under the Plaintiff’s Constitutional right to life. In his judgment, the Chief Justice endorsed that concession, and also found that the conditions in the prison breached Mr Buckley’s constitutional rights to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment, to dignity, and his constitutional rights as a remand prisoner.

The judge accepted that the rights of St Helenians as a non-self-governing people under the UN Charter were relevant to the interpretation of the human rights provisions in the St Helena Constitution. This is likely to have significance across the Overseas Territories. The judgment also tends to support the proposition that the right to dignity under the Overseas Territories’ constitutions should be interpreted consistently with Strasbourg jurisprudence, rather than in line with other Commonwealth formulations of the meaning of a right to dignity.

The prison opened in 1827, was declared as unsuitable in the 1850s and remains in operation today. The prison has previously been condemned as not complying with human rights standards by the Overseas Territories Prison Advisor and the Equality and Human Rights Commission of St Helena. This case was the first time that the lawfulness of the prison conditions have been litigated.

Josh Hitchens acted for the Plaintiff.

To read the full judgment of Buckley v the Attorney General, click here.

Find out more

Josh Hitchens acts in high-profile and high value disputes across commercial and public law. Current or recent instructions include a multi-jurisdictional civil fraud claim in which Josh acted as sole counsel and obtained a freezing order for $21.6m USD, acting as sole counsel in the first sanctions delisting challenge brought by a mono-British national and acting as junior counsel in proceedings concerning the enforcement of a $2.4bn arbitration award. Josh regularly appears as sole counsel against much more senior opponents and is one of the most junior barristers ranked in both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners for public law work.

To find out more about Josh, contact Lexie Johnson on + 44 (0) 207 427 0801.

News 11 Oct, 2024

Authors

Joshua Hitchens

Call: 2018

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