Question juridique clé
Whether the applicant was entitled to renewal of his residence permit under Art. 7(1) LSEE despite separation from his Swiss spouse.
Solution extraite
No. The court held that relying on a marriage that had become purely formal constituted a manifest abuse of rights, so there was no entitlement to renewal.
Motifs extraits
The spouses had separated in July 2002 after about ten months of marriage, never resumed cohabitation, and no concrete prospect of reconciliation existed. The wife had a new relationship and the applicant had not shown serious steps toward resuming the marital union. After more than two years of separation, the marriage was considered devoid of substance.