The story goes like this - a 69-year-old French woman filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights. The reason was, to put it mildly, a peculiar situation: she was accused of causing the collapse of her marriage by refusing to engage in marital sex!
Previously, national courts ruled that the woman's decision to cease intimate relations with her husband was the basis for the divorce. However, the protagonist of this scandal disagreed, stating that no one has the right to consider a refusal of sex as a reason for the breakdown of a family.
This came to light thanks to a report from Unilad.
The European Court sided with the woman, emphasizing that such intimate matters should not serve as legal grounds for the dissolution of relationships. The situation sparked intense discussions and divided public opinion: some believe that the woman was right to defend her personal space, while others are outraged by the court's decision.
The court unanimously supported the woman, as it determined that the initial ruling of the French courts violated European human rights legislation – the right to respect for private and family life.
This ruling ended nearly a decade-long dispute, and the woman described it as a step in the right direction towards ending the "culture of rape" and promoting consent among married couples.
In its assessment, the ECtHR stated:
"The Court cannot agree with the Government's suggestion that consent to marriage implies consent to future sexual relations. Such reasoning could deprive marital rape of its deserved condemnation. The Court has long held that the notion that a husband cannot be criminally liable for raping his wife is unacceptable and contradicts not only a civilized understanding of marriage but, above all, the fundamental aims of the Convention, which are rooted in respect for human dignity and freedom. In the Court's view, consent must reflect a free will regarding specific sexual relations at the moment they occur and in light of the circumstances."
The woman, born in 1955 and residing in Le Chesnay, a commune on the outskirts of Paris, has four children from her former husband.
The couple married in 1984, but after 28 years of marriage, she filed for divorce in 2012. Their marital problems began shortly after the birth of their first child in 1992, and by 2002, her husband had started to physically and verbally abuse her.
Two years later, she stopped having sex with him. As a result of the divorce in 2013, the woman was awarded the family home, and her ex-husband was ordered to vacate the property.
Two years later, she sued her husband for divorce on the grounds of fault – she claimed that the man prioritized his professional career over their family life and that he was "irritable, cruel, and abusive."