Imprisonment Of Ex-Senator Stuart Syvret In Jersey

EDM number 685 in 2013-14, proposed by John Hemming on 06/11/2013.
Categorised under the topics of Administration of justice and Internet and cybercrime.

That this House notes that Stuart Syvret who was previously elected as a senator in Jersey has been imprisoned for three months for making allegations on his blog about Andrew Marolia, David Minty, David Wherry and Jonathan Sharrock Haworth, who had previously obtained a super-injunction against him under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; further notes that the use of this law would cover all allegations whether they are true or not; believes that this is a chilling affront to freedom of speech and that before someone could be imprisoned for making allegations it should be shown that the allegations made are not true; further notes that Jersey still does not have a system of private prosecution, nor does it have the facility to judicially review prosecutory decisions; recognises that this means if people who are friends with those in power have committed criminal acts it is impossible to have those issues considered in an open court and that it is clear that the state will move to imprison people for making allegations about criminal offences not being prosecuted whether or not this is true; further believes that the Government should not be so complacent about the institutional failures in Jersey; and calls for Ministers to review the situation and report to Parliament.

This motion has been signed by a total of 3 MPs.