Two new soldiers were charged this Thursday, June 1 in France in the case of the death of 27 migrants after the sinking of their boat in the Channel at the end of 2021, AFP learned from sources close to the investigation and the judiciary.
With these new charges, a total of seven soldiers are currently charged in the context of this case investigated by the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco) of the Paris Court of Justice.
The French authorities are suspected of having been called for help fifteen times and of not having rescued the migrants on the night of the sinking.
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According to the source close to the investigation, the two soldiers charged on Thursday were on board the French navy patrol boat ” Flamingo “. This vessel was sailing at relative proximity from the canoe where the migrants were, said the judicial source.
Ten suspected smugglers indicted
In this case, ten alleged smugglers, mostly Afghans, have also already been indicted. The canoe had sunk in the early morning of November 24, 2021carrying 27 passengers, mostly Iraqi Kurds, aged between seven and 46.
No one came to their aid then. Neither the French side nor the British side, each having spent the night passing the buck, according to documents from the investigation consulted by AFP and revealed by the daily The world in November 2022.
In a telephone conversation with the Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue Gris Nez (Cross), in charge of relief in the Channel, of which AFP became aware, a migrant declared: ” Help, please (…), I’m in the water “. ” Yes, but you are in English waters sir “, had replied his interlocutor. ” No, no, not English waters, French waters, please can you come quickly he begged again, before the conversation was cut off.
During previous hearings as witnesses in this investigation at the end of 2021, Cross agents had invoked the lack of means, which forced “ to prioritize “. That evening, this center treated “ hundreds or even thousands of calls “, had told one of them.
An investigation is also underway across the Channel. Some 46,000 asylum seekers crossed the Channel in 2022, mostly Afghans, Iranians and Albanians. Some 8,000 were rescued in French waters.
Thursday, June 1, the French police evacuated a camp of 350 migrants in Calais, where exiles continue to flock in the hope of rallying the English coast, announced the prefecture. According to the prefect, Jacques Billant, present on the spot, this camp installed for several months on private land, constituted “the largest site for the settlement of migrants in Calais”.
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(With AFP)