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CRIME

French court convicts Vietnamese lorry tragedy suspects

A French court on Friday handed down jail sentences of up to 10 years in a people smuggling trial over the death of 39 Vietnamese migrants in a refrigerated container on the way to Britain.

French court convicts Vietnamese lorry tragedy suspects
Lorries line up in a traffic jam on the 'Rocade' road alongside the ''Jungle'' migrant camp in Calais. Photo: DENIS CHARLET/AFP.

The bodies of the migrants who suffocated to death — two of whom were just 15 years old — were discovered inside the sealed unit at a port near London in October 2019.

They had travelled in the lorry from northern France to Belgium before crossing the Channel to Britain.

Two ringleaders of the operation — one Romanian and one British — were convicted at a trial in 2021 in Britain and sentenced to 27 and 20 years in prison respectively.

Other suspects, notably the drivers, received 12 to 20 years, while a Belgian court handed a 15-year term to a Vietnamese man for heading the local cell of the network.

Of the 19 defendants in the French trial — who include Vietnamese, French, Chinese, Algerian and Moroccan nationals — 18 were found guilty. Four of them, all Vietnamese, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to nine or 10 years in prison.

Four other Vietnamese nationals, two of whom were absent and considered fugitive, were sentenced to between one and 10 years for their role in transporting and housing the migrants.

The others, drivers or owners of apartments working with the gang, were sentenced to suspended jail terms.

One defendant, a driver, was cleared of all charges.

According to phone intercepts, the group referred to the migrants as “goods” or “chickens”. In the aftermath of the tragedy, harrowing accounts emerged from the
victims, who had recorded messages to their families from inside the sealed lorry.

In one message, 26-year-old Pham Thi Tra My wrote to her parents: “Mom, dad, I love you very much. I am dying, I can no longer breathe.”

Another man left a recording, saying: “I want to come back to my family. Have a good life.

Some of the defendants had claimed that they were pressured into working with the gang, but the court said that their main motivation was money.

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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