French farmer fined for helping migrants to enter the country
Man who helped put up Africans does not regret it
NICE // A French farmer who helped Africans enter the country was given a suspended fine of €3,000 (Dh11,728) yesterday.
Cedric Herrou was tried for illegally helping migrants across the French-Italian border under the noses of the French police and then giving those people accommodation.
Prosecutors had demanded an eight-month prison term for the 37-year old. Mr Herrou was unrepentant before the verdict, saying he would not stop helping people who had come to Europe.
“We will continue to act despite the threats from the state and the prosecutor,” he said.
At his trial last month, he said he was compelled to help because families were suffering.
A small group of Mr Herrou’s supporters gathered in the driz- zle outside the court building in Nice yesterday. He was one of several people to appear in court in southern France recently charged with illegally assisting migrants who have travelled north through Europe after crossing the Mediterranean.
Their cases have pitched the spirit of solidarity against the letter of the law at a time when border controls and migration have become major issues in the run-up to this year’s presidential and legislative elections in France.
On January 7, a court acquitted researcher Pierre-Alain Mannoni, who had faced a six-month suspended jail sentence for aiding Eritrean migrants who entered France from Italy.