The applicant had been living in France with his family since 1967. In 1990 he was charged after it was discovered that he was implicated in heroin trafficking. In 1991 the Belley Criminal Court sentenced him to fifteen months imprisonment, twelve months suspended, and made an order excluding him from French territory for ten years.
The applicant appealed to the Lyon Court of Appeal, which increased the sentence to three years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, and upheld the exclusion order. It found that Mr Baghli had admitted having received heroin on a number of occasions both for his personal consumption and for resale after adulterating it in a way that was particularly dangerous to buyers’ health. His appeal to the Court of Cassation was dismissed on 6 September 1993.
The applicant was deported to Algeria in 1994 at the end of his prison sentence.
In 1994 while still in prison, the applicant, relying on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, applied to the Lyons Court of Appeal to have the exclusion order rescinded. His application was dismissed. His appeal to the Court of Cassation was also dismissed on 19 December 1995, among other things, on the ground that the exclusion order did not amount to a disproportionate interference in his right to private and family life as guaranteed by Article 8.
That judgment was not served on the applicant. His representative said that he did not receive a copy until September 1996.
The applicant complains that the exclusion order violates his right to respect for his private and family life as guaranteed by Article 8.
Citation: Baghli v France (App no 34374/97) ECHR 30 November 1999
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)