French woman wins ECHR case for not having sex in divorce decree.

A French woman who stopped having sex with her husband has won a ruling at Europe’s top human rights court that she should not be held guilty of divorce.

The European Court of Human Rights sided with the 69-year-old on Thursday, saying courts should not consider refusal to have sex as grounds for divorce.

The unanimous ruling found that France had breached the right to respect for private and family life under European human rights law – ending a decade of legal wrangling.

The French woman, known only as Mrs HW, hailed the decision as a step towards eradicating “the culture of rape” and promoting harmony in marriage.

The case has sparked a debate over France’s views on marriage and women’s rights. HW’s lawyer, Lilia Miessen, said the decision would destroy the old concept of “marital duty” and called on French courts to adapt to modern concepts of equality and equality.

Women’s rights groups supporting HW say French judges continue to uphold an “archaic vision of marriage” that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.

HW, who lives in Le Chesnay near Paris, married her husband Jesse in 1984. She had four children. This included a disabled daughter who required constant care.

After the birth of their first child, their marriage broke down and in 1992, HW began to experience health problems. In the year In 2002, her husband started physically and verbally abusing her. After two years, she stopped having sex with him and filed for divorce in 2012.

The woman did not dispute the divorce she sought but challenged the grounds on which it was granted.

In the year In 2019, the Court of Appeal in Versailles rejected her appeal and ruled in favor of her husband. An appeals court at France’s highest court later dismissed the appeal without explanation. She then brought her case to the ECHR in 2021.

ECR He stated that the concept of “marital obligations” in French law ignores the importance of consent in sexual relations.

The court emphasized that agreeing to marry does not mean agreeing to have sex in the future. If it suggests otherwise, he said, the verdict effectively denies that marital rape is a serious crime.

The ruling comes amid increased attention to permissiveness in France, following the high-profile trial of Dominique Pellicot, who drugged his wife and invited men to seduce her. Pellicot and 50 others involved in the case were sentenced last month, and the case has raised concerns about how French law will address the settlement.

Women’s rights groups argue that the ECHR decision reinforces the need to reform French laws and cultural attitudes.

A recent report by French parliamentarians proposed including the concept of consent in the legal definition of rape, stating that consent must be freely given and can be revoked at any time.