The Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal has validated the release of “almost all or even all” of the 108 survivors of the humanitarian ship “Ocean Viking” whose files had been appealed of the prosecution, she told AFP on Friday.
Of the 234 migrants disembarked last week in Toulon from the boat of the SOS Méditerranée association, 123 remained in the holiday center where they were accommodated, on the Giens peninsula, in Hyères, according to the latest communication from the Prefecture of Var.
15 of them had been kept in this waiting area by the Toulon court. The other 108 were awaiting the decision of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, which studied their files between Wednesday and Thursday.
For these 108 people, the judges of freedoms and detention of Toulon had decided Tuesday evening to divest, not having had time to treat their cases within the time limit of 24 hours. The migrants were therefore in theory free, but the Toulon prosecutor’s office appealed against these decisions, forcing them to remain in the waiting area until the court’s decision was taken.
A “ten files” pending
“There was a very strong mobilization of the Court of Appeal to respond within the time limit” of 48 hours, said Friday with AFP Renaud Le Breton de Vannoise, first president of the Court of Appeal of Aix. -in Provence.
In the end, these 108 files were processed on time and the court confirmed “almost all or even all” of the decisions taken at first instance, allowing the migrants concerned to leave the waiting area if they so wish.
There are still “a dozen files” to be dealt with at the Court of Appeal, according to the first president: cases corresponding to other challenges to the decisions of first instance, in particular by migrants whose judge of freedoms and the detention had considered that they should remain in the waiting area.
44 survivors recognized as minors
In total, the majority of survivors of the Ocean Viking have therefore obtained the right to leave the waiting area.
Of the 234, the sixty migrants who had already obtained the right to seek asylum had been redirected to other structures. 44 others had been recognized as minors and had been housed in reception facilities made available by the Var department. 26 of them had already left Thursday evening, the departmental council announced.