A civil servant branded as mentally unstable by the European Commission was subjected to harassment and blackmail a court heard yesterday, in a trial that questions the way the European Union executive rids itself of troublesome staff.

José Sequeira was marched from his office two years ago after the Commission's medical service said he was mentally unfit to work. His lawyers claim he was singled out for raising allegations of corruption in the Jacques Santer-led Commission during the late 1990s.