The French court approved this Sunday (24) the departure of a plane to Nicaragua 303 Indian passengers, who were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking during a stopover at an airport 150 kilometers from Paris on Thursday. The plane, an Airbus A340 from the Romanian airline Legend Airlines, will be able to take off from Vatry airport (north), the French prosecutor's office told AFP.
The decision could pave the way for a “diversion” of passengers, the prefecture of the Marne department, where Vatry airport is located, said, without revealing details about the Indians' destination.
“The DGAC (General Directorate of Civil Aviation) is working to obtain the necessary approvals to allow the aircraft to take off again, which should happen no later than Monday morning,” the town hall added.
The 303 passengers, including 11 unaccompanied minors, have been stuck at the airport since Thursday. The plane would fly from Dubai to Managua and make a refueling stop in France. The Paris MP reported on Friday that the trip was canceled after an “anonymous complaint” that some passengers might be victims of “human trafficking.”
A source close to the investigation said the passengers, likely Indian workers in the Emirates, were traveling to a Central American country to try to travel north and enter the United States or Canada irregularly.
“Bad living conditions”
This Sunday, the court also ruled out the possibility that one of the 303 passengers was stuck in the airport waiting area. One of the four judges assigned to the case believed that the 11hour delay between the plane landing and the matter being referred to a judge constituted a “disproportionate violation of individual rights.”
The same decision could be applied to the other passengers, including two who are in custody, lawyer François Procureur from the ChâlonsenChampagne region said at a press conference. The lawyer expressed concern about the “poor living conditions” in the area approved by the Civil Defense Service to accommodate Indians.
French justice began hearing testimonies from passengers on Sunday to determine whether they could be held longer than the four days required by law. The deadline can be extended by a judge by eight days and, in exceptional cases, by a further eight days. Depending on the resources presented, the maximum length of stay in the waiting area is 26 days.
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application for asylum
The hearings are held in the presence of lawyers and translators in a building adjacent to the waiting area, where white tarps are installed to ensure Indians' privacy. The investigation, coordinated by the national jurisdiction to combat organized crime (Junalco, its French acronym), aims to “verify whether there are elements that corroborate the suspicion of human trafficking”.
Two passengers were arrested on Friday on suspicion of human trafficking and the period of detention was extended on Saturday evening to a “maximum period of 48 hours,” the Paris MP said.
According to a source following the case, ten passengers applied for asylum. The crew members, 15 for the DubaiVatry section and 14 or 15 for the VatryManagua connection, “were questioned and were allowed to leave freely and return home if they wanted,” Liliana Bakayoko, the company's lawyer, said on Saturday. Antenna.
According to the specialized website Flightradar, Legend Airlines is a small company with a fleet of four aircraft. Human trafficking is a crime punishable in France by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of 3 million euros (R16 million).