Modinos v. Cyprus is a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

 concerning Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights

European Convention on Human Rights

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...

Case

The case was initiated by Alexandros Modinos, a gay rights activist who had founded Apeleftherotiko Kinima Omofilofilon Kiprou (AKOK), or "Cypriot Gay Liberation Movement", in 1987. At the time, Modinos was involved in a sexual relationship with another male adult, and claimed to suffer great strain, apprehension, and fear of prosecution by reason of Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus

Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus

Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus was a section of the Cyprus Criminal Code, which was enacted in 1929, that criminalized homosexual acts between consenting male adults...

, which criminalized certain homosexual acts.

Judgment

(8 votes to one)

The existence of a prohibition continuously and directly affected the applicant’s private life, thus there was an interference with his right to respect for private life. As the Government limited their submissions to maintaining that there was no interference, and did not seek to argue that there existed a justification under Article 8(2) for the impugned legal provisions, the Court did not find that - in the light of the above mentioned fact and having regard to the its judgment in Dudgeon v. United Kingdom

Dudgeon v. United Kingdom

Dudgeon v the United Kingdom was a European Court of Human Rights case, which held that legislation passed in the nineteenth century to criminalise male homosexual acts in England, Wales and Ireland - in 1980, still in force in Northern Ireland - violated the European Convention on Human Rights...

and Norris v. Ireland

Norris v. Ireland

Norris v. Ireland was a 1988 case decided by the European Court of Human Rights. The case was brought against the Republic of Ireland by Senator David Norris, and his Senior Counsel was fellow member of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, Mary Robinson, who later became the first female...

- a re-examination of the question was called for.