THE HAGUE, 20/09/08 - A district court in The Hague has ruled that the State must release an illegal immigrant and pay him damages of 1,345 euros. During his detention, the paperwork was not in order.

On 23 August, the alien was caught travelling by train without a valid ticket. He said he had no passport and explained in a foreign language, which the conductor by chance also spoke, he had entered Europe via Turkey in the back of a truck and had been illegally staying in Brussels for four months. The police arrested him and took him into alien detention.

The train conductor had to present the statements in writing to the police. Instead, only an immediate report was drawn up by the police. As a result, it "cannot be established whether the description by the police is correct and agrees with how the conductor himself had experienced this," according to the court.