Frenchman acquitted of aiding migrants
NICE, France: A French court on Friday acquitted a man for helping migrants who had sneaked into the country from Italy as immigration issues play a major role ahead of this year’s elections.
“In France today we have the right to save people in distress,” said researcher Pierre-Alain Mannoni, who had faced a sixmonth suspended ja il sentence for aiding Eritrean migrants who came into France from Italy.
The prosecutor said during the trial in November in the southern city of Nice that people had a ‘duty’ to help, ‘but not help (illegal immigrants) to stay and circulate’ in the country.
The judge ruled Friday that the 45-year- old researcher at French national research centre CNRS had helped three young Eritrean women to ‘protect their dignity’.
A law in effect since 2012 grants immunity to those who help illegal migrants who are not paid if people’s lives are considered in peril.
“You can help people,” Mannoni said after the ruling. “I recommend it, it does a lot of good!”
He is one of three people in the area to appear in court recently for illegally assisting migrants travelling up through Europe after crossing the Mediterranean in rickety boats.
Their cases have pitched the spirit of solidarity against the letter of the law at a time when border controls and migration have become hot political issues.
The right-wing president of the Riviera region, Christian Estrosi, has repeatedly criticised activists who help migrants.
He said on Facebook that Friday’s ruling was ‘an insult to the work of the security forces who put their life in danger to protect ours’. — AFP