When speaking about the infamous criminal provision, Article 106 “Sodomy,” under which voluntary “sexual intercourse between a man and another man” was punishable by imprisonment for up to three years, various sources state that it was repealed in 1995. However, this is not entirely accurate. Within the framework of a broader legislative reform, the article did not disappear but was substantially revised.
As of June 15, 1995, it received a new title — “Article 106. Forced Sodomy.” In its revised version, the article referred to “sodomy committed against a minor, or through the use of physical or psychological violence, or by exploiting the victim’s helpless condition,” for which a penalty of two to five years of imprisonment was предусмотрed.
Thus, the article was retained, but its meaning was fundamentally changed: from 1995 onward, Moldova effectively ceased criminal prosecution for consensual homosexual relations between adults, even though the term “sodomy” formally remained in the criminal legislation.
In this form, the article existed until the adoption of the new edition of the Criminal Code — No. 985-XV of April 18, 2002. In the updated Criminal Code, Article 106 already concerned “forced confiscation of property,” while sexual offenses were consolidated into six articles of Chapter IV:
171 — “Rape”;
172 — “Violent acts of a sexual nature”;
173 — “Sexual harassment”;
174 — “Sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16”;
175 — “Lewd acts”;
175-1 — “Grooming a minor for sexual purposes.”
From that moment on, the concept of “sodomy” completely disappeared from the legislation of the Republic of Moldova — and, in essence, from public life.
