A Paris court has found six men guilty of manslaughter over the deaths of 27 people in the Channel in 2021 – the worst mass drowning on record involving migrants in the narrow seaway separating France and Britain.
The court on Wednesday said the six smugglers were all directly or indirectly responsible for the tragic journey at sea, describing them as “individuals driven by greed, with utter disregard for human life”.
Seven other men were found guilty of lesser smuggling charges with varying degrees of seriousness, including facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised gang and criminal conspiracy.
The migrants drowned after their overloaded dinghy deflated as they crossed the Channel in November 2021 of one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
A French fishing vessel alerted emergency services after spotting bodies floating in the waters off the French coast near Calais in the early hours of 24 November.
Twenty-seven victims were recovered, while at least four others were never found. Only two men survived.
Sentences for the six men found guilty of manslaughter ranged from six to 10 years in prison. For others, sentences ranged from six months suspended to four years in prison. One man was found innocent.
Members of the French military are currently under formal investigation for failing to help the migrants when they were in danger.
Living with 'constant pain'
The victims were mostly Iraqi Kurds, but also included people who were Afghan, Ethiopian, Egyptian, Somalian, Iranian Kurd and Vietnamese.
The youngest known victim was a seven-year-old girl.
Relatives of some victims described during the trial the anguish provoked by the disaster.
Zana Mamand Muhammad, whose brother Twana, 18 at the time, was never recovered after the disaster, told the court: "I live with the uncertainty of discovering some information about his disappearance, a body, a grave."
"I am living with this constant pain," he said, crying and holding a picture of his brother.
The defendants have 10 days to appeal the ruling.
A lawyer for the victims' families said the court's decision came as a relief: "It confirms the smugglers' criminal responsibility," said Matthieu Chirez. "It is a welcome first step, which now leads to a second one: the trial of the military personnel."
A British inquiry into the disaster found the deaths were avoidable. It concluded that a French naval vessel failed to respond to a call for help from the British coastguard, which in turn made "a number of flawed decisions", including ending a search for survivors too early.
The investigation into five members from a maritime rescue coordination centre, and two sailors onboard a patrol, began in 2023. The men deny the allegations.
Separately, France and Britain ended on Wednesday a year-old deal to return migrants crossing the Channel illegally on small boats.
"The government's pilot with France to remove asylum seekers in exchange for an equal number of legal migrants is no longer processing new cases," the Home Office said, confirming the end of the so-called "one in, one out" deal launched last August.
(with newswires)
