In general, during the recent centuries, the European countries have increasingly made suffrage more accessible. This has included retaining disenfranchisement in fewer and fewer cases, including for criminal offenses. Moreover, most European states, including most of those outside the European Union, have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, and thereby agreed to respect the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. In the case "Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2)" the Court in 2005 found general rules for automatic disfranchisements resulting from convictions to be contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights. This ruling applied equally for prisoners and for ex-convicts. It did not exclude the possibility of disfranchisement as a consequence of deliberation in individual cases (such as that of Mohammed Bouyeri ). The United Kingdom has not respected this Court opinion, although it is a signatory to the Convention (see below).