The High Court has awarded legal costs to an Algerian man who became stranded in Ireland after being acquitted of charges for which he had been surrendered from France under a European arrest warrant.
Nacer Benloulou had lived in France since 1984 and held a valid French residence permit. He was transferred to Ireland in February 2014 to face prosecution over an allegation that he had previously been illegally resident here. He was acquitted of all charges on 17 July 2015 and released immediately.
The practical consequences left him in a difficult position. According to the judgment, he had no shelter, food, money, medication or transport and could not return to France. Air France would not accept his residence permit as his sole travel identification, the French Embassy was said to be unable to provide suitable documents and there was no Algerian Embassy in Dublin.
Judicial review proceedings were commenced on 30 July seeking, among other reliefs, steps requiring the State to enable his return to France.
The following week, the Department of Justice offered a route forward. It told Benloulou that he could apply for a temporary Irish travel document and that the usual Irish residency requirement would be waived. He applied on 7 August, approval followed on 11 August and he returned to France on 13 August.
The remaining High Court issue was who should pay the costs of the proceedings. The State argued that no order requiring his return had been made and other reliefs had been abandoned.
Mr Justice Barrett held that the true objective of the case had nonetheless been achieved. Applying Supreme Court authority, he found that Benloulou’s return to France was the relevant “event” for costs purposes and that the judicial review proceedings were clearly a critical factor in bringing it about.
Costs were therefore awarded to Benloulou.