Frenchman cleared of drug trafficking returns from Malaysia

"Malaysia has stolen 909 days of my life," a Frenchman has said as he arrived in France following his acquittal on drug charges.

Tom Félix, 34, smiled as he was greeted by loved ones at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris, according to the AFP news agency.

The former Veolia executive was arrested on suspicion of possessing and trafficking drugs on 9 August 2023 as he was preparing to open a restaurant on an island in the northwest of the south-east Asian country.

He told reporters the court had acquitted him in a "clear, unambiguous, unreserved judgement", adding that he had never trafficked drugs.

Drug laws are strict in Malaysia and if he had been found guilty he could have faced the death penalty.

Félix was acquitted on Tuesday by the High Criminal Court of Alor Setar, a city 500km (311 miles) northwest of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

"All this time, since August 9, 2023, I have been mistreated in the police custody facilities, in a prison where inmates are languishing who are punished on a daily basis in the worst possible way. I held on, I resisted and I think of the others who are still there," he told AFP, adding he was "very tired".

His lawyer Blandine Gentil told AFP her client had waited more than three years for a trial, saying that he was acquitted because there was no evidence against him.

Following his acquittal, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was an "immense relief".

"Special thoughts for his parents, whom I had met, who never stopped believing in it and who will now be reunited with their son," he wrote on X.