A Greek court has annulled the country’s first known same-sex civil marriages performed controversially last year on the small Aegean island of Tilos.

The court on the island of Rhodes, which holds jurisdiction over the Dodecanese, justified its ruling on the grounds that Greek law makes no specific provision for same-sex weddings, a judicial official said last week.

Lawyers for the two couples said they would appeal the ruling and pledged to take the case as far as the European Court of Human Rights.

“Greece is denying human rights to a section of its citizens,” said Evangelia Vlami, a prominent member of the country’s main homosexual association.

Vlami noted that the Greek tax office had no problem accepting a joint tax declaration filed with her spouse later that year.