EU slams Poland over gay rights

5th March 2010

The European Court of Human Rights has struck a blow for gay rights in Poland by ruling that homosexuals can inherit from their partners.

In a unanimous verdict, the Strasbourg-based court found that the local authorities in Szczecin had contravened the European Charter of Human Rights when they tried to evict a man, whose partner had died, from a flat the two men had once shared.

Szczecin had rejected a request by Piotr Kozak that he be allowed to continue to live in the municipal flat, explaining the right under Polish law for a person to inherit from their partner failed to apply as in this case both partners were men. Under the Polish constitution, marriage is defined as a “union ...