ATLANTA — Georgia’s top court today struck down a state law designed to discourage assisted suicides after a legal battle brought by four members of a suicide group who said the law also violated free speech rights.

The Georgia Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling concludes the 1994 state law “restricts speech in violation of the free speech clauses” of the U.S. and Georgia constitutions.

The court’s opinion held that Georgia only criminalized assisted suicides that include a public offering to assist. It said the law didn’t expressly prohibit assisted suicides, meaning some were legal in Georgia.

The opinion, penned by Justice Hugh Thompson, said lawmakers could have imposed a ban on all assisted suicides with no restriction on protected speech, or it could forbid all offers to assist in suicide that are followed by the act. But lawmakers decided to do neither, the ruling said.

The court’s decision is a victory to members of the Final Exit Network who challenged the law after they were charged in February 2009 with helping a 58-year-old cancer-stricken man die.