Gay law submitted to Council of Europe

By Jean Christou

CYPRUS’S amended law decriminalising homosexuality between consenting adults was yesterday presented to the Council of Europe (CoE), in line with its May 29 deadline.

“We informed the Committee of Ministers that the bill had been adopted by parliament and that consequently the case before them be closed,” said Cyprus’ ambassador to the CoE, Thalia Petridou.

The wording of the new law, designed to appease the opposition of the Church and the anti-gay lobby, has, however, come under fire from the gay community and from international human rights organisations.

The law refers to homosexuality as “unnatural licentiousness”, and other vague terms, such as “indecent proposals” or “advertising” by homosexuals, are all punishable by jail terms.

Cyprus is likely to have to justify the text to the CoE Committee of Ministers.

Gay Rights activist Alecos Modinos, whose case prompted the European Court of Human Rights 1993 ruling that homosexuality be decriminalised, said yesterday he had sent his objections in writing to the CoE.

“We hope they will examine it closely and not take it for granted,” Modinos said.

But speaking to the Cyprus Mail from Strasbourg, Petridou said that the Director of the CoE’s Human Rights Directorate had not mentioned anything negative about the new law.

“He did say ‘we have to look seriously into the text of the new law and decide accordingly’,” Petridou said, adding, however, that this was a routine procedure.

“We have to provide the text and be prepared to answer any questions on the content.”

A CoE meeting to examine the text is not likely to take place before the end of June, Petridou said.

Amnesty International was among those who condemned the wording of the new law as unacceptable and a breach of human rights.

The law was not passed until May 21, after the House had stalled the procedure for five years in the face of Church and public opposition.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.