- Title: French volunteer charged for transporting migrants appears in court
- Date: 4th January 2017
- Summary: VENTIMIGLIA, ITALY (FILE - OCTOBER 4, 2016) (REUTERS) MAN WITH INJURED HEAD WALKING IN CAMP MIGRANTS LYING ON THE FLOOR VARIOUS OF BEDS AND MEN LYING ON IT BREIL-SUR-ROYA, NEAR ITALIAN/FRENCH BORDER, FRANCE (FILE - OCTOBER 10, 2016) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS WALKING ALONG MOUNTAIN PATH VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS RUNNING TO MINIBUS WHICH WILL TRANSPORT THEM ACROSS ITALIAN-FRENCH BORDER NEAR ITALIAN/FRENCH BORDER, FRANCE (FILE - OCTOBER 10, 2016) (REUTERS) HERROU ON PHONE IN MINIBUS MIGRANTS SITTING IN MINIBUS MOUNTAINOUS ROAD MENTON, ON ITALIAN/FRENCH BORDER, FRANCE (FILE - OCTOBER 3, 2016) (REUTERS) ITALY SIGN NEXT TO BORDER CONTROL POST CARS DRIVING PAST FRENCH BORDER POLICE NEAR ITALIAN/FRENCH BORDER, FRANCE (FILE - OCTOBER 10, 2016) (REUTERS) HERROU'S HANDS AT WHEEL OF MINIBUS MINIBUS DRIVING ALONG ROAD / HERROU AT WHEEL ROAD TOURETTES-SUR-LOUP, FRANCE (FILE - OCTOBER 10, 2016) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS GETTING OUT OF MINIBUS VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WALKING TO HOUSE OF ANOTHER VOLUNTEER CO-ORDINATOR OF ASSOCIATION "HOUSING AND CITIZENSHIP", HUBERT JOURDAN, GREETING MIGRANTS AT HIS HOME MIGRANTS AND VOLUNTEERS SITTING AT PORCH OF JOURDAN'S HOME MIGRANTS WAITING TO RE-BOARD MINIBUS MIGRANTS WALKING TOWARDS MINIBUS HERROU SAYING GOODBYE TO MIGRANTS BEFORE THEY ARE TRANSPORTED TO TRAIN STATION MINIBUS LEAVING
- Embargoed: 19th January 2017 16:50
- Keywords: migrants volunteer trial court borders Europe Italy France Cedric Herrou
- Location: NICE / BREIL-SUR-ROYA, NEAR ITALIAN/FRENCH BORDER / TOURETTES-SUR-LOUP, FRANCE AND VENITIMIGLIA, ITALY
- City: NICE / BREIL-SUR-ROYA, NEAR ITALIAN/FRENCH BORDER / TOURETTES-SUR-LOUP, FRANCE AND VENITIMIGLIA, ITALY
- Country: France
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0025XO0QX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The trial of a French farmer charged with helping clandestine migrants began in Nice on Wednesday (January 4).
Herrou may face five years in prison and a 30,000 euro fine if found guilty of the charge of aiding the unauthorised entry, transit and stay of illegal migrants.
Defiant, he defended his actions and said sending him to prison would do nothing to address the influx of migrants across Europe.
"I subjected myself to illegality because these people are pushing me towards illegality in order to protect the rights of these children that I've taken across (the border), of these families that I've taken across, I had to put myself in illegality. And if I have to continue, I will continue," Herrou said.
Around 300 supporters gathered in front of the Palais de Justice in Nice, decrying the case against Herrou.
"The law is the law so it is very complicated because we can consider that he made a humanitarian gesture in fact. So we are a bit torn between the two principles. It's awful I think, because we can't condemn him I think," Nice resident Bernadette Barelli said.
Local newspaper Nice Matin named Herrou "Azureen of the year," a title reserved for the region's most accomplished individuals.
In a French valley surrounded by Italian territory, the 37-year-old egg farmer and a team of volunteers helped transport migrants from his home in Breil-sur-Roya, across the Italian border and back into France, taking routes typically neglected by border police.
Growing numbers of migrants had been gathering at the frontier between Italy's Ventimiglia and France's Menton, hoping to travel on to countries such as Britain and Germany.
He was first arrested in August 2016 for accompanying eight Eritreans, and had been released on a humanitarian immunity clause.
The same clause did not apply when he was arrested again in October, when the Nice prosecutor said his aiding of migrants then was not a response to immediate danger.
Herrou said he had helped migrants on a purely voluntary basis, and accepted no money or anything in return from the migrants, and that he especially tried to help the minors among them.
Once over the border, the migrants were transported to a house in Tourettes-sur-Loup, where they were met with warm drinks and cakes by the association "Housing and Citizenship" as they waited for the onward part of their journey.
The migrants were then transported on to a train station in Les Arcs, where they were left to continue their onward journeys on their own. The group of migrants filmed by Reuters in October successfully boarded a train headed for Paris, travelling on to various final destinations. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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