After the indictment of five soldiers from the Cross Gris Nez on Thursday, May 25, the lawyer for Utopia 56 at the origin of the complaint for non-assistance to a person in danger said he was “absolutely not convinced of the official discourse of the prefecture maritime”. In 2021, the sinking of a boat in the English Channel caused the death of 27 migrants
“The investigations that took place show that there was a form of casualness, negligence, perhaps imprudence“, said Thursday, May 25 on franceinfo Emmanuel Daoud, lawyer for the association Utopia 56, while five soldiers were indicted for failure to assist a person in danger in the investigation into the sinking of a boat having led to the death of 27 migrants in the English Channel in November 2021. They are suspected of having failed in their rescue mission that night.
>>> Migrants who died crossing the Channel: 5 Cross soldiers indicted for failure to assist a person in danger
The complaint for non-assistance to a person in danger filed by Utopia 56 at the time of the tragedy “was intended to assist in the manifestation of the truth“, specifies Emmanuel Daoud. The lawyer says to himself “absolutely not convinced of the official discourse of the maritime prefecture“which amounts, according to him, to saying that “everything had gone well, that the rescue operations had been carried out correctly and that the boat could not be identified“. He believes that this “peremptory version asserted by the prefecture is demolished“more than two and a half years after the events.
The transcriptions of the recordings of the Pas-de-Calais Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue (Cross Gris-Nez), “send shivers down your spine“, reacts Emmanuel Daoud. “If, in the end, there had been in some way a sharing of roles“with the British, with instructions to”above all, do not deal with these migrants when they are near British territorial waters“, the lawyer would see to it”an inhuman policy, contrary to human dignity“.”These men and women, even if they are exiles, even if they are migrants, even if they are in an irregular situation on our territory, they have the right to have their lives protected and that does not was not the case.”
“Rescue was not there that night”
Emmanuel Daoud emphasizes that the military “enjoy the presumption of innocence“and wait to see”what the judges will decide“. But he believes that “the actions that should have been carried out, the quality of the relief, the organization of the relief, were not there that night“, Or “27 people died, including children“.
Utopia 56’s lawyer still wonders whether the soldiers indicted “had individual latitude or whether, on the contrary, the way in which they dealt with this situation fell under instructions given by their superiors“. It stays “one of the gray areas to be clarified“. But Emmanuel Daoud believes that, “faced with a situation of danger, of imminent danger to the lives of people who are in danger, even if you have received instructions to the contrary, you must act when you have the means to act“.