Supreme Court's groundbreaking ruling for same-sex couples
15:55
Poland's Supreme Court adjudicated on Thursday that same-sex couples can be classified as cohabiting. "Free interpretation of the verdict says that the court recognized same-sex couples as a family," said Mirosława Makuchowska from NGO Campaign against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii - KPH).
The Supreme Court settled a question of the first president of the Supreme Court Małgorzata Gersdorf, who wanted to remove ambiguities arising from the decisions of the courts concerning the right to refuse to testify against the accused person in cases when it comes to same-sex partners.
"The system of legal protection cannot be differentiated with respect to gender," said Supreme Court's justice Jarosław Matras.
According to the Criminal Code, a person closest to the accused may refuse to testify and is entitled to other powers, for example they may exercise the rights of the deceased. Under the Penal Code "a spouse, an ascendant, a descendant, a sibling, a relative in the same line or degree, an adopted person and his spouse, as well as people cohabiting" are considered to be the closest person.
"Until now same-sex couples were regarded by the law as strangers," Makuchowska commented.
