Hungarian immigration officials were wrong to make a Nigerian asylum applicant undergo psychological tests to determine whether or not he was gay, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Thursday.

The ruling effectively bans the testing of sexual orientation to determine the right to asylum, declaring it to be "disproportionate" and an invasion of "the most intimate aspects" of life.

The man, who was not named in the ruling, had made his application at a time of high immigration to Hungary from the Middle East and Africa. The right-wing government has been at the forefront of attempts, especially among former communist states in the east, to harden the European Union's frontiers against asylum seekers.

- The man made his claim for asylum in the southern city of Szeged in April 2015.

- His claim was that, as a homosexual man, he faced prosecution back home in Nigeria, where homosexuality is illegal and where the maximum penalty in some northern states is death by stoning.

- Hungarian authorities rejected the application based on psychological tests that required the man to draw a picture of a person in the rain and describe his perceptions of inkblots.

- The ECJ ruled that, though it is acceptable for authorities to seek expert opinions, these should be obtained in a way that is consistent with human rights standards. Read more via DW