Wife of sect leader returns to France

A French woman who was fighting extradition alongside her partner, French sect leader Alain Schmitt, has left Malta after withdrawing her constitutional case over claims of a breach of human rights.

Laurence Liegeios, 47, was missing her eight-year-old son Quinten, who had been in Malta but was then sent to live with his grandparents in France after she was detained, according to her defence lawyer Emmy Bezzina.

He said she had missed him so much that she decided to withdraw her Constitutional case and go back to France. There, she will serve a 15-month term but out of prison, wearing an electronic tag so she can be monitored by the authorities, Dr Bezzina said.

Both Mr Schmitt, 49 and Ms Liegeios are wanted by the French authorities to serve prison terms after being convicted for kidnapping and extortion. They were arrested in January and after the Magistrate's Court ordered their extradition, they appealed the decision and lost.

They then filed a Constitutional case claiming breaches of human rights in the way have been treated by the police, in prison and by the courts.

Mr Schmitt, who is nearly blind, is staying on in Malta to fight the case.

Speaking outside the court house yesterday, Dr Bezzina bemoaned the fact that despite his client suffering type 1 diabetes and being 98 per cent blind, he had not been granted bail during the court case.

He said the couples' outstanding marriage application was still in place and if Ms Liegeois should not be able to come for the ceremony, they would get married by proxy - she would nominate one of the women who form part of their sect to stand in her place.

The case continues.