France to try 19 people involved in case of 39 Vietnamese people dead in container

French investigative judges have ordered the trial of 19 suspects, aged 21 to 58, in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in a container in 2019.

A cross-border investigation has identified 19 suspects, including people of Vietnamese, French, Chinese, Algerian and Moroccan origin, as part of a network that smuggled people from Vietnam to Europe, sources familiar with the matter said on May 24. French investigative judges on May 23 ordered the 19 suspects to stand trial, but it is unclear when the trial will begin.

The suspects are accused of organizing the illegal transportation of migrants or owning apartments in the Paris area that hid them. When communicating with each other, the suspects referred to the victims as "goods" or even "chickens".

Authorities remove a container containing the bodies of 39 Vietnamese people from an industrial park in Essex, England, October 2019. Photo: PA

All suspects will be tried on charges of facilitating the illegal entry and stay of foreigners in France and of conspiring to commit crimes. They could face up to 10 years in prison. Four of them will also be tried on charges of manslaughter, failing to ensure the safety of the victims. This charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

The bodies of 39 Vietnamese people were discovered in a container truck at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Essex, England, on the morning of October 23, 2019. Investigation results showed that they had been loaded into the truck in northern France and paid 20,000 euros (more than 23,000 USD) to smuggle them from France to England.

The container carrying them was transported by ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in England overnight. The victims later died from lack of oxygen and overheating in the confined space.

A Belgian court last year sentenced a Vietnamese man to 15 years in prison for leading a human trafficking ring. In 2021, Britain sentenced four people to 13-27 years in prison for their involvement in a human trafficking plot that led to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people.

Ngoc Anh (According to AFP )

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