Paris court finds 13 men guilty over deadliest migrant Channel crossing on record

A Paris court found 13 men guilty of charges including involuntary homicide over the November 2021 sinking of an overloaded dinghy that killed 31 people attempting to cross the English Channel. Sentences ranged from six months to the ten-year maximum, several suspended or served with electronic monitoring, while one defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence.

The judge said the boat was overloaded, the life jackets substandard, and the motor faulty. Survivors described clinging to debris in freezing water as distress calls to French and British authorities went unanswered for hours, a failure now under separate investigation.

One defendant, described by victims' families as the smuggling network's 'right-hand man,' was sentenced to eight years after the court rejected his attempt to recoup roughly $1,700 in legal fees; he had reportedly threatened five lawyers. Among 113 plaintiffs, several family members traveled from Iraqi Kurdistan to testify, one begging the court to help locate his son's remains.

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