Four Frenchmen detained in the US military camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for more than two years arrived back in France today after being handed over to French authorities.
The men were captured during the US led-war in Afghanistan on suspicion of fighting with the former Taliban regime.
The four, who arrived by French military aircraft at the Evreux military base in northern France, were taken away in a white coach escorted by police cars and outriders, a Reuters photographer said.
President Jacques Chirac said their release followed long discussions with US authorities and the men would now be handed over to French justice.
France was continuing talks to obtain the release of the three remaining French nationals in Guantanamo.
Mr Chirac added that the four "will of course be handed over to (French) justice authorities, who as you know have opened a judicial investigation into their cases".
Relations are frosty between Paris and Washington, who fell out over the US-led war in Iraq, and the pair remain divided in global trade talks and have clashed over whether Turkey should become a member of the European Union.