A French woman who refused to have sex with her husband was not “at fault” in her divorce, Europe’s top human rights court has ruled.

The 69-year-old’s husband had obtained a divorce on the grounds that she had stopped having sexual intercourse with him.

However, on Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) sided against France, saying that the woman should not be considered “at fault” by courts in the event of divorce.

“The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights,” a statement said.

The court identified the woman only as HW, saying that she lives in Le Chesnay in the western suburbs of Paris.

The woman did not complain about the divorce, which she had also sought, but rather about the grounds on which it had been granted, said the Strasbourg-based court.

Any concept of marital duties needed to take into account “consent” as the basis for sexual relations, the statement said.

“The court concluded that the very existence of such a marital obligation ran counter to sexual freedom, (and) the right to bodily autonomy,” it ruled.

“The applicant’s husband could have petitioned for divorce, submitting the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage as the principal ground, and not, as he had done, as an alternative ground,” the court found.

“The domestic courts had not struck a fair balance between the competing interests at stake.”