From: [email-masked] (Bjoern Skolander)

News Service 11/89/97
EUR: 17/01/97
19 MAY 1997

CYPRUS: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS ON HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TO DECRIMINALIZE CONSENSUAL SEX BETWEEN ADULT MALES IN PRIVATE

Amnesty International called today on all deputies of the Cyprus House of
Representatives to support abolition of the law which prohibits sex between
consenting male adults in private.

     In 1993 the European Court of Human Rights held that the law
constituted a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human
Rights, to which Cyprus is a state party. Article 8 provides that everyone
has the right to respect for his private and family life.

     Although there have been no recent prosecutions of homosexuals under
the law, the European Court took the view that there was no guarantee that
action would not be taken by a future Attorney-General to enforce the law.
To date no steps have been taken to remove or amend the law in order to
comply with the court's ruling.

     Amnesty International would regard anyone imprisoned solely for sex
between consenting adults in private as a prisoner of conscience.
ENDS.../