LGBT rights in Cyprus not recognised or mentioned in the law. With independence from Britain in 1960, Cyprus retained British colonial law on the island almost in its entirety, with the relevant parts of the "Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885" becoming articles 171 to 174 of Chapter 154 of the Cypriot Criminal Code. The articles were first challenged in 1993, when Alexandros Modinos, a Cypriot architect and gay rights activist won a legal court case against the Government of Cyprus, known as "Modinos v. Cyprus", at the European Court of Human Rights. The Court ruled that Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus
USS Independence (CV-62) 1959, and then carried out a ten-week training cruise in the Caribbean. During these trials, while carrying out compatibility tests aboard the new carrier, a Douglas A3D Skywarrior was catapulted off "Independence" at a gross weight of 84,000 pounds (38,000 kg), the heaviest aircraft to take off from a carrier at the time. "Independence" operated off the Virginia Capes for the next year on training maneuvers, and departed 4 August 1960 for her first cruise to the Mediterranean. There, she added her great strength to the peace-keeping power of the 6th Fleet in that troubled region, remaining in the eastern