Paris - A court in the northern French city of Lille has annulled a marriage because the bride had misled her husband into believing that she was a virgin, French media reported on Thursday.

The husband, a Muslim like his now ex-wife, decided to end the marriage the morning after the wedding, which took place on July 6, 2006, when he discovered on the wedding night that, contrary to what his wife had told him, she was not a virgin.

The attorney for the husband, Xavier Labbee, was quoted on the web site of the weekly Le Point as saying: "Divorce punishes a failing of conjugal duties. I must be faithful to my spouse, I betray my spouse, therefore he or she sues for divorce. Here we had a betrayal right from the start."

According to the text of the judgment, the marriage was annulled "under the influence of an objective error... The young wife hid the truth from her fiance because she was convinced he would never have married her had he known the truth." (dpa)