Post date: Apr 13, 2012 3:37:12 PM
"I am very disappointed with the verdict because I think that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) did not properly tackle the questions that needed to be addressed," lawyer of the defendant, Endrik Wilhelm said.
The defendant in the case, a man from the eastern German city of Leipzig, who was convicted to three years in prison, had taken his case to Strasbourg claiming his imprisonment was a violation of his human rights.
A German incest couple loses their appeal to the European Court of Human Rights after claiming that a prison sentence had been a violation of the fundamental right to the protection of family life.
STRASBOURG, FRANCE (APRIL 12, 2012) (COUNCIL OF EUROPE EPK) - The lawyer of a defendant in a German incest case said on Thursday (April 12) he was 'disappointed' with a ruling by the European Court of Justice upholding a German decision to make incest criminally punishable.
According to German law, sex between siblings is illegal.
The decision by the Strasbourg Court is not legally binding but ratifies the actions taken by the German constitutional court.
"The verdict is not yet legally binding, but the Court has ratified the decision of the German court and said that in this case the German judges have investigated the case thoroughly and as far as this case is concerned there was no violation of the European Convention of Human Rights," division head at the European Court of Human Rights, Martina Keller said.
The defendant only met his sister in later life, having been adopted as a child. According to media reports, the couple had four children, two of whom have disabilities.
German incest law is partly based on the increased likelihood of parents producing children with disabilities.
"To start with the most important: The ECtHR has ratified the eugenics argument of the German court, which is to prohibit reproduction because of possible inherited illnesses. This was one of the main arguments of the German Constitutional Court. And this is, not just in my opinion but also the in the opinion of people cleverer than I, absolutely indefensible," Wilhelm said.
"It was not a situation where two siblings who grew up together suddenly came up with the idea to...and so on. It is a case where two people who did not grow up together came together at a mature age and found each other. And now I want to want to prohibit them from having sexual relations... I will advise my client to appeal because i have not given hope that we eventually get to a court that rules differently because it just cannot be that in the year 2012 two people are being criminally charged because they had consensual sexual relations. This just cannot be in 2012, in the 21st Century. This just can't be. And that's the bottom line," Wilhelm added.
Reactions to the verdict have been mixed with Green parliament member Hans-Christian Stroebele against the German position on incest.
"I am of the opinion that adults, two adults who consensually love each other and engage in sexual relations should not be criminally charged. One can judge on a moral level, one can judge on a religious level but the law and the state do not have a place here," Stroebele said form Berlin.
According to media reports, the couple are no longer together and three of their children have been taken into care.