By Juliette Jabkhiro
PARIS, Sept 30 (Reuters) – A Paris court found six men guilty of manslaughter on Wednesday over the drowning of more than 30 people in the Channel five years ago, the worst disaster on record involving migrants in the narrow seaway separating France and Britain.
The court said the six smugglers were all directly or indirectly responsible for the tragic journey at sea, showing “complete indifference” to human life out of sheer greed.
Seven other men were found guilty of lesser smuggling charges with varying degrees of seriousness, including facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised gang and criminal conspiracy.
The migrants perished after their overloaded dinghy deflated as they made the crossing across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
A French fishing vessel alerted emergency services after spotting bodies floating in the waters off the French coast near Calais in November 2021. Twenty-seven victims were recovered, while at least four others were never found. Only two men survived.
Sentences for the six men found guilty of manslaughter ranged from six to 10 years in prison. For others, sentences ranged from six months suspended to four years in prison. One man was found innocent.
Members of the French military are currently under formal investigation for failing to help the migrants when they were in danger.
The victims were mainly Iraqi Kurds, but also included Afghans, Ethiopians, an Egyptian, a Somali national, an Iranian Kurd and a Vietnamese national.
‘I AM LIVING WITH THIS CONSTANT PAIN’
Relatives of some victims described during the trial the anguish provoked by the disaster.
Zana Mamand Muhammad, whose brother Twana, 18 at the time, was never recovered after the disaster, told the court: “I live with the uncertainty of discovering some information about his disappearance, a body, a grave.”
“I am living with this constant pain,” he said, crying and holding a picture of his brother.
The defendants have 10 days to appeal the ruling.
A lawyer for the victims’ families said the court’s decision came as a relief:
“It confirms the smugglers’ criminal responsibility,” said Matthieu Chirez. “It is a welcome first step, which now leads to a second one: the trial of the military personnel.”
A British inquiry into the disaster found the deaths were avoidable. It concluded that a French naval vessel failed to respond to a call for help from the British coastguard, which in turn made “a number of flawed decisions”, including ending a search for survivors too early.
(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; editing by Richard Lough and Gareth Jones)
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