Lie about virginity shouldn’t annul marriage, French prosecutors say
By ELAINE GANLEY
Associated Press
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Paris — A court decision to annul a Muslim couple’s marriage because the bride lied about being a virgin discriminates against women and should be overturned, state prosecutors argued Monday.
A court in the northern town of Douai annulled the 2006 marriage in April because the husband discovered on his wedding night that his bride had lied about her virginity.
NATION/WORLD
Latest Headlines:
Lie about virginity shouldn't annul marriage, French prosecutors say
The decision caused an uproar, with some in France calling it a sign that the country’s secular values are losing ground to the traditions of its fast-growing immigrant communities.
About 5 million Muslims live in France.
The lower court based its decision on an article of the French Civil Code that states that a spouse can seek an annulment if the partner has misrepresented his or her “essential qualities.”
Eric Vaillant, a spokesman for the Douai appeals court, said prosecutors told the three-judge tribunal during a nearly two-hour hearing that a woman’s virginity is “in no way … an essential quality,” as the lower court had suggested.
Making a wife’s virginity a condition of marriage “would be discriminatory because it would harm the principles of equality between men and women, of free use of one’s body and the dignity of the human being,” Vaillant said by telephone, summarizing the prosecution’s argument.
The prosecution said it was not opposed to the idea of annulling the marriage, which neither the husband, in his 30s, nor the wife, in her 20s, now wants, but the motive must be “legitimate,” in conformity with the principles upheld by France.
Neither husband nor wife has been identified by name.