Cédric Herrou, symbol of aid to migrants, was "dismissed from all prosecutions" against him, Wednesday, by the Lyon Court of Appeal who tried him again after the consecration of the "principle of brotherhood" by the Constitutional Council . The militant farmer from the Roya valley, on the Franco-Italian border, was also exempted from punishment for the acts of "installation in a meeting on land belonging to others without authorization", in this case an abandoned colony SNCF, which had not been disputed.
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"Principle of brotherhood"
Cédric Herrou had seized the Constitutional Council after being sentenced in August 2017 to a four-month suspended prison sentence by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal for having conveyed some 200 migrants, mainly Eritrean and Sudanese, from the Italian border to his home, then to have organized a reception camp.
On July 6, 2018, the Elders believed that "disinterested aid to migrants, whether individual or 'militant' and organized, should not be continued". This resulted in "the freedom to assist others, for a humanitarian purpose, without regard to the lawfulness of their stay on national territory". The Court of Cassation retained this "principle of brotherhood" and set aside in December 2018 the conviction of Cédric Verrou, referring the case to the Lyon Court of Appeal, which acquitted him on Wednesday.
"The triumph of reason and law"
"It is the triumph of reason and law," said Sabrina Goldman, one of the accused's counsel. "Why bother with someone who has only helped? How can we consider what he has done other than humanitarian action?".
On March 11 at the hearing, the public prosecutor's office had requested 8 to 10 months suspended prison sentence against the farmer. "A dismaying determination" in the eyes of the defense, which welcomes the court's decision as "a real relief".