A court in Meaux, France, ordered the city of Chessy to pay an Algerian man living in the country illegally and his Finnish partner 6,000 euros in damages plus 1,500 euros in legal costs, after the municipality refused to officiate their wedding. The case began in 2025, when the couple formally applied to marry, and the then-mayor, Olivier Bourgeois, held separate hearings and concluded the relationship was a sham meant to legalize the man’s status, despite a deportation order against him dating to 2022.
According to the report, the local council acted to prevent what it saw as an abuse of marriage law for immigration purposes. But the prosecutor relied on technical grounds, arguing that the deportation order had expired and was no longer enforceable because of a three-year limitation period. The judicial pressure that followed pushed local elected officials to the brink, and they resigned collectively in protest over being forced to carry out the ceremony, though they were later required to remain in office under orders from the French prefecture.
The court ultimately imposed daily penalties of hundreds and even thousands of euros for each day of delay until the new mayor was forced to marry the pair, while still stressing that the union appeared insincere. The judge also acknowledged that the bride had already returned to Finland for medical reasons and that the couple did not live together.
Even so, the court still awarded compensation to the couple, though the judge reduced the amount somewhat after accepting those facts. The ruling was presented in the article as vindication for the municipal officials who had tried to block the marriage.
