Pierre-Alain Mannoni, 45 years old, a teacher-researcher at the Nice Sophia Antipolis university, was arrested on October 18th at a toll booth near Menton with three Eritrean women in his car, one of whom was a minor. All three had been taken in at an abandoned and squatted SNCF holiday camp by a collective of associations to shelter Eritreans.
Taken to court, the prosecutor accused him during the hearing of aiding illegal immigration.
The acquittal is complete. The criminal court ruled that he acted “to preserve their dignity.”
Since 2012, the law has provided immunity for smugglers who are not compensated and act when the lives of the individuals taken in are deemed to be in danger.
“Today in France, know that we have the right to shelter, we have the right to feed, we have the right to save people in distress, we have the right to transport them to our homes when the conditions are necessary to preserve their dignity and physical integrity,” Pierre-Alain Mannoni responded upon leaving the courthouse.
The LR president of the Paca region, Christian Estrosi, who has repeatedly criticized publicly the actions of association activists who assist migrants in the Alpes-Maritimes, lamented the court’s decision: “Every time someone flouts the law to facilitate the passage of illegal immigrants, it sends a bad message outside of our borders.”
