Britain grants posthumous pardon to those convicted of homosexuality

Thousands of homosexual men convicted of violating by that time already repealed laws have been posthumously pardoned in Britain, the government announced.

Records of convictions of convicts who survived decriminalization will be removed from the archives.

As . the BBC notes, the decision to pardon convicted gays was made after the acquittal of the famous mathematician Alan Turing, who made a significant contribution to breaking the cipher generated by the German Enigma machine during World War II After the war, Turing was convicted of homosexuality, and in 1952 he was ordered to undergo hormone therapy.

In 1954, the mathematician was found dead with traces of cyanide poisoning. For several years, there was a campaign in Britain for the full rehabilitation of Turing, but ministers pointed out that the court's decision regarding the mathematician was based on the laws in force at the time.

In December 2013, Turing was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II.

"It's very important to exonerate people convicted of historic sexual offenses who would not be considered guilty of any crimes today," Deputy Attorney General Sam Jiima said.

Sex between men was criminalized in England and Wales until 1967, in Scotland until 1980, and in Northern Ireland until 1982.