France/UK - immigration

Britain jails French councillor for helping illegal immigrants

Article published on the 2010-02-06 Latest update 2010-02-06 13:47 TU

Georges Chocat shows a photo of his wife, Christiane, and their son, Benjamin
(Photo: AFP)

A court in the British port city of Portsmouth has sentenced French local councillor Christiane Chocat to three years in prison and her son Benjamin to five for trying to smuggle 16 Vietnamese immigrants into the United Kingdom. Immigrant support groups say they are being punished for showing solidarity.

The pair were arrested on 1 October 2009 when they tried to land in Portsmouth from a ferry coming from the French channel port of Cherbourg.

Customs officers opened the back of their hired van and found the 16 Vietnamese in a crate hidden behind boxes of prawn-flavoured noodles.

Mother and son both pleaded guilty to aiding illegal entry into a European Union state. The immigrants, seven of whom were minors according to French police, were sent back to France, where the authorities have lost track of them.

Benjamin Chocat, who reportedly asked his mother to hire the van, is a 20-year-old Asia-enthusiast who lived in Paris's Chinatown, the 13th arrondissement. Christiane Chocat was a local councillor in Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux, near Paris.

Benjamin's father, Georges, blame his son for involving Christiane in the afffair, claiming that his wife's health is poor and that she needs care rather than a jail term.

Immigrant solidarity groups in France say they are shocked by the sentences.

"At most it's a crime of naivety or solidarity," Solange Odiot of SOS Sans-Papiers told the Nouvel-Obs magazine. "

She asked why the French government  has not demanded the extradition of the pair, who will serve their sentences in the UK.

The film Welcome, whose subject is breaking the law to help migrants, was a hit in French cinemas last year.