French court jails 13 men up to 10 years over 2021 Channel disaster
A Paris court sentenced 13 men for their roles in the deadliest migrant boat crossing from France to the UK, in which 31 people drowned in 2021.
Thirteen convicted over Channel crossing that killed 31 migrants
A Paris court has sentenced 13 men to prison terms of up to 10 years for their roles in the deadliest migrant small-boat crossing from France to the United Kingdom, aljazeera.com reports.
Six of the men were found guilty of involuntary homicide on Wednesday and received sentences of between six and 10 years. Prosecutors established that they organised a crossing aboard a vessel unfit for open-sea navigation, overloaded with 31 passengers and without adequate life jackets. The remaining seven defendants were convicted on lesser charges and sentenced to up to four years. Of the 14 men originally on trial, one was acquitted.
The court described the smugglers as motivated by greed, characterising them as "profiting from the vulnerability of exile candidates."
"When it costs the lives of 31 people and the sea becomes a cemetery, there is a price, and the court said that the price they had to pay was justice and prison time," said Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer representing victims' families.
The migrants, mostly Iraqi Kurds, drowned when their UK-bound boat capsized in the English Channel in November 2021 after departing from northern France. Four bodies were never recovered. Two men survived.
Seven military personnel remain under investigation for allegedly failing to assist survivors; all deny any wrongdoing.
The verdicts come as France and the United Kingdom bring an end to a pilot returns scheme that had allowed Britain to send back migrants from France who were deemed not to have the legal right to remain. Under the arrangement, the UK accepted an equivalent number of migrants with stronger asylum claims. The scheme was set to expire on Thursday. Unverified reports indicate the UK government had sought to extend the programme, though the UK Interior Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that new applications to the scheme were no longer being accepted.
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)