Avenue de l'Europe
Modinos v. Cyprus 
| 1993
I never felt I was a criminal . . . So, I thought something must be done.
Alecos Modinos, interview with the Council of Europe - © Photo: Council of Europe
For decades, Cypriot law criminalised homosexual relationships between men, with a minimum penalty of a five-year jail term.
Alecos Modinos was an architect. He had an ongoing relationship with another man. Alecos suffered from strain, apprehension and fear of prosecution, due to the criminalisation of his personal relationship.
The European court ruled that the ban on homosexual relationships in Cyprus amounted to an unjustified interference in peoples’ private lives. It violated their basic rights.
…we had the antiquated, Victorian, colonial law of 1885. I was a criminal.
Alecos Modinos, interview with the Council of Europe
In 1998, Cyprus decriminalised male homosexual conduct carried out in private between consenting adults.
A Turkish court decided that Y.Y., a transgender man, was not allowed to have gender reassignment surgery because he was not infertile. The European court said this requirement was unnecessary. It found that Turkey had breached Y.Y.’s rights by denying him the chance to have surgery for many years. In response, Turkey removed the infertility requirement for gender reassignment surgery.
David Norris suffered from anxiety attacks and depression after realising that any open expression of his homosexuality could lead to a criminal prosecution. The European court ruled that the criminalisation of his sexuality breached his basic rights. In 1993, this led to the full legalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults under Irish law.
Loreta Valiulienė told the authorities that she had been attacked by her partner. However, the public prosecutor repeatedly failed to investigate properly, until the case became time barred and the partner never faced justice. The European court ruled that these failures had violated Loreta's rights. A series of reforms were carried out to combat domestic violence in Lithuania.
Cyprus
Türkiye
Ireland
Lithuania