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France: Authorities charge 9 men over Channel shipwreck with migrants

Authorities have charged nine men in France, mainly with “manslaughter”, while five of them have been remanded in custody as part of the investigation into the wreck of a boat carrying migrants that sank in the English Channel in November, killing 27 people, according to a judicial source.

“Nine men between the ages of 21 and 41” appeared before a judge yesterday Thursday and were charged “mainly with negligent homicide, negligent infliction of bodily harm, exposure to danger, formation and gang and aiding and abetting illegal entry, traffic and stay,” he explained. the source.

“Five of them were remanded in custody and four were released on parole,” he continued.

According to a source with knowledge of the case, the men are said to be involved in various ways — as drivers, traffickers, homeowners — in an Afghan migrant-trafficking network linked to the wreck.

A tenth man was remanded in custody on Wednesday. A total of 15 people — 13 men and two women — were arrested on Sunday and Monday, according to Le Parisien newspaper and RTL radio station. Five have been released.

Twenty-seven migrants between the ages of 7 and 46 — 16 Iraqi Kurds, one Iranian Kurd, 4 Afghans, 3 Ethiopians, one Somali, one Egyptian and one Vietnamese — drowned on Nov. 24 when the dinghy they were on capsized off the coast of Calais.

Only two passengers, an Iraqi Kurd and a Sudanese, were rescued.

This shipwreck, the deadliest in the English Channel, had shocked Europe and heightened tensions between France and Britain.

According to the French interior ministry, attempts to cross the English Channel by migrants who want to reach British shores have seen a sharp rise in the first half of 2022, while 2021 already saw a record number.

From January 1 to June 13, 2022 “777 incidents of crossing and attempted crossing with small boats have been recorded involving 20,132 migrants (+68% compared to the same period in 2021)”.

Last year a record 52,000 migrants tried to reach British shores from France and 28,000 succeeded, the French ministry said.

According to the coastguard, 38 migrants drowned in 2021 trying to reach Britain, including 27 in the November 24 shipwreck.

SOURCE: APE-ME

Source: Capital

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