Ten people are prosecuted for “manslaughter”, “involuntary injury”, “endangering the life of others”, “criminal association” and “aiding illegal entry, movement and residence” after 27 migrants were drowned in the English Channel in November 2021.
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Ten people suspected of being involved in a clandestine immigration network linked to the death by drowning of 27 migrants in the Channel last November have been indicted, franceinfo learned on Friday July 1 from concordant sources. A first was indicted on Wednesday, the other nine were on Thursday.
Aged 21 to 41, these people are being prosecuted for “manslaughter”, “involuntary injury”, “endangering the lives of others”, “criminal association” and “help to enter, traffic and illegal stay”, according to a judicial source. Six are in pre-trial detention and four under judicial control.
According to a source close to the investigation, these individuals are suspected of being smugglers, drivers and lodgers, in particular of an Afghan illegal immigration network, linked in the chartering of a makeshift boat which sank last November, resulting in the death of 27 migrants. Only two passengers could be rescued.
On November 24, 2021, 17 men, seven women, two teenagers and a 7-year-old child drowned after the sinking of the boat which was to take them from France to the United Kingdom. They were Kurds from Iraq and Iran, Ethiopians, Afghans, Somalis and Egyptians.
The next day, the specialized inter-regional jurisdiction (Jirs) of Lille had launched an investigation. A judicial inquiry was then opened in December. It appears from the first elements of the investigation that the passengers of the boat had called in vain the French authorities – which the investigation unit of Radio France was able to obtain confirmation – and British. According to a survivor, the two sides of the Channel passed the responsibility, leaving the migrants to their fate. The exile association Utopia56 filed a complaint against the French and British authorities.
This sinking was a shock wave in Europe, reigniting tensions between France and the United Kingdom around the issue of border management. The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights called them to order and called on them to provide safe and legal access routes to the United Kingdom.