In a courtroom that the 23 members of the commando had deserted, the criminal court yesterday broadcast two videos posted on Youtube by Romain Espino, 29, seen as the coordinator of the attack of October 5, 2018, who films himself the the day before the assault and then afterwards in front of the gates of the courthouse, accusing SOS Méditerranée of ” participate in fact in human trafficking and the invasion of France and Europe “. ” It is not by Africanizing Europe that we will help Africa. We must demand that the Aquarius be seized launched the animator of the dissolved group.
” It was obvious that it is identity given the violence. With the composure I was able to acquire during various rescues, I tried to block them before being forcibly ejected testifies the only boy of the team of seven humanitarian workers. He too has difficult to understand their absence from the trial “. The merchant navy officer has stopped working for SOS Méditerranée. ” I decided to stop to lower the level of pressure, because we do not know what can happen to our person and our family in the event of new attacks. »
Advocate for SOS Méditerranée, Me François de Cambiaire, underlined the sadly remarkable absence of regret from the defendants » and of the defendants themselves, « their contempt which extends to Justice. ” This is indicative of the perfect awareness they had that this attack was criminally reprehensible. » Because “ they wanted to terrorize the association to definitively oppose its action. They fired cowardly at the ambulance “says the lawyer who castigates” the baseness of these militants without a backbone, a band of very seasoned people who are proud of their dirty work “. Their ” barrage of verbal and physical abuse “caused” slight physical injuries but very serious moral injuries ” because ” their purpose was to terrorize “.
An ideology of hate
Me Sébastien Mabile hailed the strength of his humanitarians, “ who are not political activists » he points out. “ They saved 36 689 lives in five years, including a quarter of minors, the equivalent of the population of La Ciotat. Rescue at sea is the victim of this trial. ” Facing them, ” a group driven by an ideology of hate that uses warrior imagery and rhetoric »a ” private militia says the decree of March 3, 2021 dissolving Génération identitaire. ” And they should have been reassured by hearing their attackers shout that they were from Generation Identity ? With defendants who mentioned a cause that would justify the sacrifice of their person ? “By their defection from the hearing, this trial did not make it possible to understand” the process of radicalization that led them to attack humanitarian workers », Regrets the lawyer.
SOS Méditerranée claimed a total of 275,000 euros in compensation: 75,000 euros for the economic damage suffered (security of the new premises, training), 100,000 euros for moral damage and 100,000 euros for damage to the image of brand and reputation following the deluge of insults on social media for accusing them of being the ” accomplices of smugglers, human traffickers », them the rescuers. The indictment is expected on Monday.
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