Alexandre Chauveau with AFP / Photo credit: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
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6:23 p.m., July 20, 2023
An Algerian national whose mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard had refused to celebrate the marriage, suspecting a “white” marriage, was expelled Thursday in the direction of Algeria.
An Algerian national, whose mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard had refused to celebrate the marriage, suspecting a “white” marriage, was expelled Thursday in the direction of Algeria, announced the prefect of Hérault Hugues Moutouh.
Under an OQTF since August 2022
“Unfavorably known to the police services and subject to an obligation to leave French territory since August 2022, the individual was placed in the administrative detention center of Sète on Monday July 17, 2023 at the request of the prefect of Hérault”, recalls the prefect in a press release.
“In accordance with the law, foreigners without a residence permit are not entitled to stay on the national territory. In the absence of voluntary return, they are deported”, he adds. Hugues Moutouh did not need to obtain a consular pass from Algiers since the expelled man had an Algerian passport.
The Béziers prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation on June 26
On July 7, the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard, formerly close to Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, refused to marry this 23-year-old man and his 29-year-old companion, despite the green light given to this union by the city prosecutor’s office, after examination of the separate hearings of the two spouses carried out by the civil status officer of the municipality.
The prosecution had informed the town hall on June 16 that it had decided “not to postpone the marriage”, considering that “there were not enough serious indications allowing it to presume the absence of marital consent”. The Béziers prosecutor’s office had however opened a preliminary investigation on June 26, in order to “fully ensure the legality of this marriage”, recalled Mr. Balland Thursday in his press release.
Several associations, including the Mrap (Movement against racism and for friendship between peoples) or the Libre Pensée de l’Hérault, protested against the decision of the mayor of Béziers not to celebrate the marriage and that of the prefect to place the young Algerian in a detention center. The 23-year-old man has been present on French territory since he was 16 years old.