French court issues tough sentences in Channel smuggling trial
A French court has sentenced 18 people – mainly Iraqi Kurds – to prison terms of up to 15 years for organising a major migrant-smuggling ring that transported people across the English Channel in small, flimsy boats.
The trial, held in Lille, exposed the dangers and high profits of the illegal crossings from France to England.
The defendants were apprehended in a Europe-wide police operation in 2022, leading to dozens of arrests and the seizure of boats, life jackets, outboard engines, paddles, and cash.
The longest sentence of 15 years, along with a €200,000 fine, was given to 26-year-old Iraqi Kurd Mirkhan Rasoul, identified as one of the ringleaders.
Other sentences ranged from two to 10 years in prison.
“The defendants are not volunteers helping their fellow humans but merchants of death,” the prosecutor said, describing how boats were loaded “up to 15 times their theoretical capacity”.
“These sentences are obviously very severe,” said Kamel Abbas, a lawyer for one of the defendants already jailed in France. “That’s a testimony of the scale of the case, and of the intention to severely punish the smugglers.”
Most of the accused were not present in court for the verdicts. Some followed the proceedings remotely from prisons across northern France, while others were tried in absentia, with warrants issued for their arrest.
Fourteen of the defendants were Iraqi nationals, with the others hailing from Iran, Poland, France, and the Netherlands.
Read more on RFI English
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