Marriage annulled due to bride's history

LILLE, France, May 31 (UPI) -- A marriage has been annulled in the French city of Lille because the bride was not actually a virgin as she had claimed to be, a lawyer says.

Family law specialist Xavier Labbee said his client, a 30-year-old French engineer, was told by his Muslim fiancee that she was a virgin prior to their wedding. The Irish Times said Saturday the bride later confessed she had been sexually active prior to marrying the man, causing him to seek an annulment.

"He felt tricked," Labbee said of his unidentified client. "He couldn't imagine building a lasting union based on a lie. The court understood."

The annulment was granted under a French civil code article which states "If there was an error about the person, or about the essential qualities of the person, the other spouse may demand the annulment of the marriage."

Yet now members of the Union for a Popular Movement, France's ruling political party, are opposing the decision and asking that the article be altered to prevent such annulments from occurring.

An unidentified party spokesman told the Times that "the law is not good; it must be changed."