Current:Home > Contact-us19 suspects go on trial in Paris in deaths of 39 migrants who suffocated in a truck in 2019-LoTradeCoin
19 suspects go on trial in Paris in deaths of 39 migrants who suffocated in a truck in 2019
View Date:2024-12-23 19:35:40
PARIS (AP) — A trial opened in Paris on Tuesday of 19 people suspected of playing critical roles in a smuggling operation that went awry and sent 39 Vietnamese migrants to their deaths four years ago when they were locked inside a stifling hot truck trailer.
Courts in Britain, the dream where the truck was found on Oct. 23, 2019, and in Belgium, where the truck boarded an English Channel ferry, have already tried and convicted 23 people.
Most of those facing justice in Paris are French helpers in a highly structured network who face charges including aiding the illegal entry into France of the migrants and criminal association. Four of the 19, all Vietnamese, are also charged with manslaughter. The defendants risk 10 years in prison.
Among the 19 are taxi drivers, apartment landlords in the Paris suburbs who housed the migrants and organizers who considered the travelers “like chickens that you stack up,” according to the investigating magistrates’ file.
“The arguments advanced by the Vietnamese leaders of the network invoking a form of inter-community aid must be swept aside … the only goal being the search for maximum profits,” the magistrates wrote. As for the others, “the landlords and taxi drivers were French nationals without whom the network could not function.”
International smuggling rings have thrived as migrants and their families empty their pockets to try to reach Britain.
Two London trials, in 2021 and this year, revealed that victims paid about 13,000 pounds ($16,770) for so-called VIP service. Small boats packed with migrants have increasingly replaced trucks, trains and ferries to cross the English Channel from northern France to Britain, with smuggling rings adapting to crackdowns at ports and the Eurostar train.
The French file, made up of numerous investigations, underscores that smugglers “take the risk of sending (migrants) to a particularly cruel death.”
Terms ranging from 12 to 27 years were handed down to five people in British courts with the ringleader Gheorghe Nica, 46 when on trial, getting the stiffest term. Another 18 people were convicted in Belgium, including a Vietnamese ringleader there sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The Paris trial is to continue through Nov. 10, with the verdict expected to be delivered at a later date.
___
Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Lyon, France contributed.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Biden EPA to charge first-ever ‘methane fee’ for drilling waste by oil and gas companies
- 8 people sent to the hospital after JetBlue flight to Florida experiences severe turbulence
- European court rules Turkish teacher’s rights were violated by conviction based on phone app use
- Rays coach Jonathan Erlichman is Tampa Bay's dugout Jedi – even if he didn't play baseball
- Does your dog have arthritis? A lot of them do. But treatment can be tricky
- UEFA moves toward partially reintegrating Russian teams and match officials into European soccer
- The dystopian suspense 'Land of Milk and Honey' satisfies all manner of appetites
- Missouri’s GOP attorney general sues school for closed-door debate on transgender bathroom use
- Diamond Sports Group can emerge out of bankruptcy after having reorganization plan approved
- Job alert! Paris Olympics are looking for cooks, security guards and others to fill 16,000 vacancies
Ranking
- Powerball winning numbers for Nov. 13 drawing: Jackpot rises to $113 million
- Barry Manilow just broke Elvis's Las Vegas record
- Ex-prosecutor who resigned from Trump-Russia probe nears confirmation to Connecticut’s Supreme Court
- Spain charges pop singer Shakira with tax evasion for a second time and demands more than $7 million
- Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback
- UEFA moves toward partially reintegrating Russian teams and match officials into European soccer
- Former Speaker Paul Ryan says Republicans will lose if Donald Trump is nominee
- 'People Collide' is a 'Freaky Friday'-type exploration of the self and persona
Recommendation
-
Caitlin Clark shanks tee shot, nearly hits fans at LPGA's The Annika pro-am
-
European court rules Turkish teacher’s rights were violated by conviction based on phone app use
-
David McCallum, NCIS and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. star, dies at age 90
-
New Orleans' drinking water threatened as saltwater intrusion looms
-
'Yellowstone's powerful opening: What happened to Kevin Costner's John Dutton?
-
Horoscopes Today, September 26, 2023
-
California governor signs law raising taxes on guns and ammunition to pay for school safety
-
Watch as firefighters work tirelessly to rescue a helpless kitten stuck in a water pipe