Trial postponed for Swiss who ‘escorted’ migrants

Even in winter, migrants attempt to cross the Alps into France. EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO

The trial of two Swiss men and an Italian woman who helped migrants enter France has been postponed until November 8.

On Thursday, the trio appeared at a court in southeastern France. They were charged for their participation in a demonstration where activists helped about 20 migrants enter France via the Alps.

The trial is being postponed until France’s top constitutional court decides whether aiding illegal immigrants is indeed a criminal offence.

Some 300 people gathered outside of the courthouse in Gap on Thursday, waving banners and showing their support for the activists being tried.

Pre-trial detention

The activists were held in the Baumettes prison in Marseille from April 26 to May 3. According to the prosecutor’s office of French town of Gap, they were arrested for “aiding the entry of foreigners without the right paperwork into the country in an organised operation” on April 22.

The two Geneva residents, aged 26 and 24, were part of around 100 mostly French and Italian activists, who crossed the Montgenèvre pass in the French Alps at the Italian border with the migrants. 

The attempt to escort migrants over the border came after activists from a right-wing group called Génération Identitaire blocked the Col de l’Échelle, six kilometres (3.7 miles) from the border, which they consider to be a “strategic point of passage for illegal immigrants”. The group had created a “symbolic border” with barriers and unfurled a banner on the side of the mountain that said, “No Way”.