War veteran John Catt (pictured above) had regularly attended public demonstrations
A 94-year-old peaceful protester with no criminal record has won an eight-year battle to wipe his political activities from the police 'extremism' database.
John Catt has no criminal record and had attended court to get his personal details and information about his attendance at various protests removed from police records.
The European Court of Human Rights handed down the ruling in the case of Mr Catt v the United Kingdom earlier today.
The war veteran and political campaigner from Brighton, East Sussex, first took legal action after the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) refused his request to permanently delete all the data about him.
Mr Catt was born in January 1925 and has been a peaceful activist since 1948, regularly attending public demonstrations.
He became involved with campaign group Smash EDO - which aimed to shut down the US-owned company's weapons factory in Brighton.
Mr Catt was twice arrested at demonstrations for obstructing a public highway but never convicted of any offence, the hearing heard.
The database is maintained by the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, originally under the supervision of Acpo, and now under the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
After the ruling was handed down, his lawyer Shamik Dutta told the Press Association: 'This ruling sets an important precedent that it is unlawful for governments across Europe to label citizens engaged in peaceful protest domestic extremists and put them on a searchable database for a potentially indefinite period.'
On Twitter he also described the judgment as a 'timely reminder of the importance of the European Convention on Human Rights in protecting privacy and the right to protest in the UK and across Europe.'
The judgment said: 'The quality of the relevant legal framework was not adequate in a context such as the present one, and therefore the interference was not 'in accordance with the law' within the meaning of Article 8.
In March 2013, he won his case at the Court of Appeal (pictured above) after a defeat at the High Court the previous year
'This finding is sufficient to conclude that there has been a violation of Article 8.'
Mr Catt vowed to take his battle to Europe after Supreme Court justices overturned an earlier ruling in his favour.
Rebecca Hilsenrath, Chief Executive at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which intervened in the case in support of Mr Catt, said:
'If you express a view in a legal and peaceful way, you shouldn't end up as a criminal on police records.
If we want a healthy democracy then we need to ensure that everyone has the right to participate fully in political life. We made clear in our evidence to the court that the National Domestic Extremism Database does not sufficiently protect individuals' personal information and risks having a chilling effect on legitimate political protests. We welcome today's judgment which upholds the importance of free speech and the right to privacy'.
In March 2010 he made a subject access request to the police under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to find what information was being held about him.
He discovered 66 entries which mentioned him between March 2005 and October 2009 held on an 'extremism database'.
He asked the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to delete the entries but this was refused and no reasons were given.
They recorded his attendance at Smash EDO demonstrations, attending a Trades Union Congress conference in Brighton in 2006, a Labour conference in Bournemouth in 2007, a pro-Gaza demonstration in Brighton in 2009 and at a demonstration against 'New Labour' organised by a number of trade unions later that year 2009.
Police recorded his name, date of birth, address and presence at the events. Descriptions of him were noted and a picture of him stored.
In January 2012 the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary published a report on undercover police operations designed to obtain intelligence about protest movements.
The report concluded Catt's information was being unnecessarily retained in police records.
Mr Catt previously described how his fight was 'for the sake of other innocent people whose lawful political activities are being monitored by the state' and he would not give up
In March 2013, he won his case at the Court of Appeal after a defeat at the High Court the previous year.
Court of Appeal judges said the information about Mr Catt was at first retained lawfully, but ruled it was held for a 'disproportionate' length of time, violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
But then the UK's highest court found in favour of police lawyers who said continuing to keep the details was still lawful.
Mr Catt previously described how his fight was 'for the sake of other innocent people whose lawful political activities are being monitored by the state' and he would not give up.
He said: 'This is an example of the erosion of freedom and a violation of private life. It is abusive collecting data and it is data control. I will not give up.'
In 2015, in response to a second subject access request, police told Mr Catt the records were held to 'help UK policing manage a future risk of crime - of which [you] could be the victim. The records themselves should not and will not be disclosed [to you] for what are obvious reasons.
'An intelligence database loses all efficacy if it is not kept confidential.'
The ECHR judgment said: 'The Government stated that the police could not provide any explanation of why the reports were not disclosed previously. However, they were investigating the matter.'
MailOnline has contacted both the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office for comment.
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https://hienalouca.com/2019/01/24/peaceful-protester-wins-eight-year-battle-to-wipe-his-political-activities-from-police-database/
Main photo article
War veteran John Catt (pictured above) had regularly attended public demonstrations
A 94-year-old peaceful protester with no criminal record has won an eight-year battle to wipe his political activities from the police ‘extremism’ database.
John Catt has no criminal record and...
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Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
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