A resounding tragedy: 39 people found dead in a container in England. 19 men of Vietnamese, French, Chinese, Algerian, and Moroccan nationalities are being judged starting Tuesday in Paris for their participation in a vast clandestine immigration network from Vietnam to Europe.
The trial comes almost four years to the day after the horrifying discovery.
On the morning of October 22, 2019, 31 men and eight women, aged 15 to 44, all originating from Vietnam, climbed into a trailer in northern France. It was then transported to the Belgian port of Zeebruges to cross the English Channel, and later taken over by another carrier in England.
The lifeless bodies of the migrants were later discovered in the trailer, in an industrial area east of London. Among them, 26-year-old Pham Thi Tra My had sent a chilling text message to her relatives just hours before the bodies were found: “Mom, Dad, I love you very much. I am dying, I can’t breathe anymore.”
“This case highlights the obvious risks that these networks subject foreigners seeking exile to: the risk of death that awaits them as they are crammed like animals into refrigerated trucks… They take the risk of sending them to a particularly cruel death,” the magistrates state in the referral order to the criminal court, consulted by AFP.
Four defendants out of the 19 are being tried for involuntary manslaughter in this case, which shed a harsh light on the risks faced by migrants at the hands of clandestine networks.
They are all also being judged for aiding the entry, circulation, or irregular stay of a foreigner in France committed by an organized group, as well as for participation in a criminal organization, crimes punishable by up to ten years in prison. However, a non-suit was pronounced for the charges of organized human trafficking.
“Goods, chickens”
After transnational investigations, French investigators concluded that the 19 men arrested in France were individuals responsible for organizing the transport of migrants, taxi drivers, or owners of apartments used for the temporary accommodation of migrants in the Paris region.
According to phone interceptions, they referred to the migrants as “goods” or “chickens.”
The examining magistrates believe that “the defense arguments put forward by the Vietnamese protagonists of the network, which consist of discussing a form of intracommunity assistance,” must be “swept aside in light of the profits generated (…), the sole objective being the search for maximum profit.”
They also mention the landlords and taxi drivers, “French nationals without whom the networks cannot function,” who are also driven “solely by the pursuit of profit.”
“My client certainly bears some responsibility in this tragedy, but it is minimal. He is first and foremost a victim of this network and its cynical leaders who used him and his vulnerability to carry out the dirty work,” said Me Dylan Slama, who is defending one of the Vietnamese defendants.
“My client formally denies his involvement in the organization of the network,” commented Me Maïa Kantor, the lawyer for another Vietnamese suspect, referring to a “tragedy that deeply affected him but must be distinguished from the actions attributed to him.”
According to Me Antoine Ory, counsel for another Vietnamese defendant, his client is eagerly awaiting the trial where he will explain his exact role to the judges.
Parallel to France, legal proceedings have taken place in the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Belgium.
In London, a Romanian man in his forties designated as the ringleader of the network was sentenced in January 2021 to 27 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and migrant trafficking. Other suspects, including the successive truck drivers, received sentences ranging from 12 to 20 years imprisonment.
In Belgium, a Vietnamese man accused of being the leader of the Belgian cell of the network was sentenced to 15 years at the beginning of 2022.
