The French Appeals Court in Lyon on 13 May annulled all charges against olive farmer Cedric Herrou who helped some 200 migrants cross the border from Italy, ending a long legal battle.
In August 2017, Herrou, who lives in Breil-sur-Roya, near the French-Italian border, was given a four-month suspended sentence for “facilitation of irregular entry.”
According to the French Code of Entry and Stay of Aliens and Right of Asylum (CESEDA,) “any person who directly or indirectly assists … the entry, movement or residence of an irregular non-national in France is punished” with a fine of 30,000 euros and five years in prison.
Herrou had brought the migrants to his home and allowed them to camp there. He also helped shelter some 50 Eritreans in a defunct railway building.
On 6 July 2018, the French Constitutional Council initially ruled that this “crime of solidarity” as Herrou's actions were dubbed, was “against the principle of brotherhood”.
But in December that same year, the Cour de Cassation -- France's court of final appeal -- overturned Herrou's conviction and sent the case back to the appeals court in the city of Lyon which on Wednesday voided all charges.
The Constitutional Council has since ruled that people cannot be prosecuted for "crimes of solidarity".
"Reason and the law has triumphed," said Sabrina Goldman, a lawyer on the case.
"Why focus on someone who did nothing but help? How can what he did be regarded as anything other than a humanitarian act?"
Implications for Europe
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a statement on its website that the ruling will have implications throughout Europe for the criminalisation of "acts of solidarity".
"Cédric Herrou did nothing wrong, he simply showed compassion towards people abandoned in dire conditions by European states," Amnesty's Rym Khadhraoui was quoted as saying.
Most European countries have rules on illegal immigration carrying similar penalties.
For instance facilitating “unlawful entry or transit of an alien” into Austria carries a penalty of up to 5,000 euros and two years imprisonment, while prison terms in Greece can go up to ten years for a similar offence.
Latvia imposes a prohibitive 47,000 euros and 7 years of community service, only topped by Luxembourg where the fine can be 50,000 euros.
Britain has the heaviest prison sentence for people helping undocumented immigrants to stay: 14 years.
French law should now be amended to ensure that only people smuggling, which entails a material benefit, is regarded as an offence, excluding humanitarian assistance, Khadhraoui added.
(With agencies)
