Alecos Modinos, a Cypriot citizen lodged a complaint against Cyprus to the European Commission of Human Rights alleging that his right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. The case was referred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on 21 February 1992.
The applicant, a gay man, was involved in a sexual relationship with another man and was also the President of the ‘Liberation Movement of Homosexuals in Cyprus.’ He stated that he suffered great strain, apprehension and fear of prosecution by reason of the legal provisions which criminalised certain homosexual acts, namely Sections 171, 172 and 173 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus.
The Cypriot government argued that the Sections were no longer enforced and accordingly, did not interfere with the applicant’s rights under Article 8. However, the court considered that the existence of the prohibition continuously and directly affected the applicant’s private life. The government limited their submission to maintaining there was no infringement and did not seek to argue that there was a justification under Article 8(2). The court found that in light of its judgments in Dudgeon v United Kingdom and Norris v Ireland, that a re-examination of the question was not required.
The court found a breach of Article 8 of the Convention.
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