On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, the trial of 19 individuals involved in the “camion charnier” case begins in Paris. This case, which resulted in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants on British soil in October 2019, has led to charges of “aiding the entry, movement and illegal stay of a foreigner in France committed by an organized group” as well as “being part of a criminal organization with the intent to commit crimes.”
This trial has been highly anticipated. Nineteen individuals will appear before the Paris Criminal Court starting on Tuesday, accused of their involvement in the “camion charnier” case in the United Kingdom. In October 2019, 39 Vietnamese migrants died of asphyxiation while attempting to reach British soil from France in the trailer of a truck.
On October 23, 2019, the bodies of 31 men and 8 women aged 15 to 44 years were discovered lifeless in the trailer of a truck in Essex, east of London. All the victims, who were of Vietnamese origin, died from asphyxiation and hyperthermia due to the heat and lack of oxygen in the truck’s trailer.
The 19 individuals on trial starting this Tuesday are not being charged with “human trafficking.” French investigators determined that they were responsible for organizing the transportation and temporary accommodation of the victims in the Île-de-France region before their departure to the United Kingdom.
Therefore, they are being judged for “aiding the entry, movement and illegal stay of a foreigner in France committed by an organized group” as well as “being part of a criminal organization with the intent to commit crimes.” Each of these offenses carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. Four of the accused are also being tried for “involuntary manslaughter by manifestly deliberate violation of a particular obligation of caution or safety.”
This trial in Paris is not the first to take place in connection with this tragic case. In September 2020, Vietnamese courts sentenced four men to prison terms ranging from 2 and a half to 7 and a half years for their involvement in the network.
The truck driver has already been convicted in England in January 2021, receiving a sentence of 13 years and 4 months for manslaughter and 6 years for human trafficking, alongside six others.
The most recent trial took place in Belgium in January 2022. A 47-year-old Vietnamese man, found guilty of leading the criminal organization responsible for the deaths of the 39 victims, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined nearly one million euros.
