Case of Laskey, Jaggard and Brown

Meistens sind Gerichtsentscheide ja wahnsinnig langweilig...Heute musste ich jedoch einen Entscheid des Europäischen Gerichtshof lesen, der es in sich hat. Grundsätzlich geht es um Art. 8 EMRK, nach welchem jeder Mensch das Recht vor Achtung des Privat- und Familienlebens hat. Hier ein Ausschnitt aus dem Sachverhalt:

In 1987, in the course of routine investigations into other matters, the police came into possession of a number of video films which were made during sado-masochistic encounters involving the applicants and as many as forty-four other homosexual men. As a result the applicants, with several other men, were charged with a series of offences, including assault and wounding, relating to sado-masochistic activities that had taken place over a ten-year period. One of the charges involved a defendant who was not yet 21 years old - the age of consent to male homosexual practices at the time. Although the instances of assault were very numerous, the prosecution limited the counts to a small number of exemplary charges.

The acts consisted in the main of maltreatment of the genitalia (with, for example, hot wax, sandpaper, fish hooks and needles) and ritualistic beatings either with the assailant's bare hands or a variety of implements, including stinging nettles, spiked belts and a cat-o'-nine tails. There were instances of branding and infliction of injuries which resulted in the flow of blood and which left scarring.