A judge has rejected a legal bid by three jailed criminals to gain the right to vote in next year’s independence referendum.
Leslie Moohan and Andrew Gillon, who were both given life sentences, and long-term prisoner Gary Gibson, challenged the blanket ban on convicted prisoners voting in the September 2014 poll.
They took their case to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, where their legal teams argued the ban was unlawful and incompatible with their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, in a lengthy judgment, Lord Glennie rejected their arguments and ruled their petitions for judicial review should be refused.
The referendum – in which voters will be asked “Should Scotland be an independent country?” – will be held on September 18.
Convicted criminals serving sentences do not currently have the right to participate in the ballot, but the three inmates challenged the legality of that ban in court.
Moohan is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years and is not eligible for release until 2023.
Gillon was jailed for life in 1998 and the Parole Board for Scotland will not consider the possibility of his release until September 22 next year.
Gibson is serving a sentence of more than seven years with effect from July last year.
As a result, none of the prisoners is due to be released until after the referendum and, although they want to vote, they will not be eligible.
They each contended that the blanket ban, as set out in the Franchise Act, was unlawful in light of ECHR. They also argued other points, including that the ban went against the “fundamental” right to vote enshrined in common law.
But Lord Glennie, who heard the arguments, from the prisoners and the Scottish Government, concluded: “The petitions must be refused.”
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has held on two occasions that a blanket ban on prisoners voting in parliamentary elections is unlawful.
Lord Glennie said he believed the European court judgment applied only to parliamentary elections, not referendums. He said the Strasbourg court may wish to reconsider its interpretation of the convention on this matter at some date in the future.
But he added: “It is, in my view, clear that the point has not yet been reached where a domestic court can say with any degree of confidence that the Strasbourg court will take that step.”
Green co-convener Patrick Harvie MSP described the ruling as a missed opportunity to aid rehabilitation.
The Glasgow MSP tried earlier this year to amend the Franchise Bill, which determines who gets to vote in the referendum.
He said: “Extending the referendum franchise to prisoners serving very short sentences or those with only a short time left to serve would have been a positive step forward.
“Today’s ruling is another missed opportunity, following on from the Scottish Government voting against my amendments to the bill.”