Mass grave truck in England: 15 years required against the main defendant

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They are 22 to be tried. But according to the requisitions of a Belgian court, Wednesday, it is a 45-year-old man, accused of having organized the transport of some of the 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in a container in Great Britain in 2019, who incurs the heaviest penalty.

The main defendant in the sinister case of Vietnamese migrants found dead, in 2019, in a container in Great Britain, risks 15 years in prison. This is the sentence that was required, Wednesday, December 15, before a Belgian court against this 45-year-old Vietnamese, accused of having organized the transport of some of the migrants.

The trial is held until Thursday before the Criminal Court of Bruges (North), where 23 people in total are tried.

The federal prosecutor’s office, which brings the accusation to trial, has asked for the maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Prosecuted as “leader of a criminal organization” of human trafficking, he denies any involvement.

The federal prosecutor “is convinced that the first defendant is the leader of the Belgian cell” of this trafficking, “it is he who gave the instructions to the migrants on when to turn on or off their mobile phone”, affirmed the magistrate.

According to her, it was also he who supervised the reception in Brussels of migrants in transit from other European countries and who organized their stay in the Belgian capital before leaving for an illegal passage to Great Britain.

Twenty-two accomplices tried

The investigation identified, in the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht, two hideouts through which the candidates for crossing the Channel passed. At least 15 victims passed through Anderlecht, according to the prosecution.

“In this very well-established criminal organization everything was done to avoid being detected”, added the magistrate. “At least 130 transports” to Britain have been carried out by this organization alone, she said.

Owners of the hideouts, stewards responsible for managing the purchases and the daily needs of migrants during their stay, taxi drivers, etc: the alleged accomplices of this network leader are 22 in total to be tried. Sentences ranging from one to ten years in prison have been requested against them.

This tragedy of illegal immigration, one of the most poignant of recent years in Europe, has been the subject of legal proceedings in at least four countries, notably in Belgium.

The container had left the Belgian port of Zeebrugge for England where the discovery of the bodies took place after an overnight journey, on October 23, 2019, in the industrial area of ​​Grays, east London.

The victims – 31 men and eight women, aged 15 to 44 – were all from Vietnam. They died of asphyxiation and hyperthermia due to the heat and lack of oxygen in the confined space of the container.

With AFP