Symbol of aid to migrants, Cédric Herrou was acquitted by the Lyon Court of Appeal, which retried him following the enshrinement of the “principle of fraternity” by the Constitutional Council.
On March 11, during the hearing, the public prosecutor’s office had requested an eight to ten-month suspended prison sentence against the farmer.
Cédric Herrou had appealed to the Constitutional Council after being sentenced in August 2017 to four months of suspended prison by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal for having transported around 200 migrants, primarily Eritreans and Sudanese, from the Italian border to his home, and then organizing a reception camp.
The Court of Cassation upheld this “principle of fraternity” and annulled Cédric Herrou’s conviction in December 2018, sending the case back to the Lyon Court of Appeal, which acquitted him on Wednesday.
