Since that fateful decision made in June 2015 to close the borders to migrants, the public authorities are hindering the journey of these damned of the Earth who aspire to finally find a future worthy of their condition as human beings in our wealthy Europe.
And for the past 5 years, many have shared the same desire to see the principle of Fraternity respected, whether they are association activists or ordinary citizens, in Menton, in the Roya Valley, in the Briançonnais, and generally throughout France.
Many of them are continually harassed, by the prefectures, law enforcement forces who storm into their homes in the early morning, weapon in hand, terrorizing children, placing them in custody, seizing computers and smartphones that are never returned, and prosecutors who drag them to court using misleading arguments and even manipulating the French language to get them convicted. So much wasted time, wasted energy, and needless humiliation…
Cédric Herrou is the first to see the authentically and exclusively fraternal nature of his support for these desperate foreigners finally recognized by a court of appeal. It took him years of legal proceedings (first custody in August 2016, without follow-up as humanitarian immunity had been recognized, then the first trial on February 10, 2017, in Nice…), a total of eleven custodies, handcuffs at the Cannes station, searches, confiscations of his work tools for months, condemnations… fortunately now erased. But others are still awaiting a judgment that finally acknowledges their humane and generous nature: an Amnesty International activist, ordinary citizens, etc.
All of them will soon have to face their judges, and on this happy day, we call for even more solidarity with them.
The decision of the Lyon court of appeal that dismisses all charges against Cédric Herrou enshrines the principle of fraternity, as the Constitutional Council had done before. It sheds a harsh light on the absurd relentlessness that some humanitarian activists still face from the State apparatus… and the waste of funds deployed for this repression, while so many needs remain unmet.
The urgency now must be for the latter to put an end to the multiple infringements on the rights of migrants occurring under its authority, particularly at the border.
