(Paris) Eighteen of the 19 people tried for their participation in a vast illegal immigration network from Vietnam to Europe were sentenced Friday in Paris to sentences ranging from suspended sentence to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Among them, four Vietnamese were convicted of involuntary manslaughter during the tragedy of the mass truck, in which 39 migrants were found dead in England on the night of October 22 to 23, 2019.
“You were involved at the forefront of organizing crossings of people in precarious situations in the hope of a better life,” insisted the president of the court Carole Bochter.
Against these four defendants, the court handed down sentences of nine to ten years’ imprisonment, accompanied by permanent ban from the national territory.
“You created the conditions that led to the deaths of these people. If there had been fewer of them, perhaps they would have survived,” she added.
The court sentenced the four other Vietnamese defendants – two of whom were absent at the trial and considered to be on the run – responsible for organizing the transport and accommodation of the migrants to sentences of one to ten years in prison.
For more than three weeks, 19 defendants were on trial in Paris for aiding the entry, movement or illegal stay of a foreigner in France, committed as part of an organized gang, as well as for criminal association. Offenses punishable by ten years of imprisonment.
All the other defendants were acquitted for criminal association but were convicted of aiding illegal residence committed by an organized gang.
“The prior agreement in an organized gang appeared to be characterized via meetings between members of the network, telephone contacts, apartment rentals, compensation systems,” declared President Bochter.
The sentences handed down against seven taxi drivers of French, Algerian or Moroccan nationality range from six months’ suspended prison sentence to three years’ imprisonment, two of which are suspended, accompanied by fines of 2,000 to 3,000 euros.
“The court considered that you knowingly participated in these facts for a broader, purely lucrative purpose,” underlined Mr.me Bochter during the deliberations.
An eighth taxi driver, of French nationality, was completely acquitted. “You only understood at the finish of the second race. The intentional element of the offense is lacking,” the court said.
Concerning the three owners of apartments where the migrants had stayed, two Chinese and a Frenchman, the sentences range from 6 to 12 months in prison, with fines of 5,000 to 10,000 euros.