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 cases had been appealed by the prosecution . 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.
Only 48 hours to decide
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.
“There was a very strong mobilization of the Court of Appeal to respond within the time” of 48 hours, said Friday Renaud Le Breton de Vannoise, first president of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence. Finally, these 108 cases were processed on time and the court confirmed “almost all or all” of the decisions taken at first instance, allowing the migrants concerned to leave the waiting area if they wish.
There are still “about ten 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. In total, the majority of survivors of the Ocean Viking have therefore obtained the right to leave the waiting area.
The pessimistic interior ministry
If the Var prefecture no longer communicates any figures on the number of migrants still present on the Giens peninsula, according to information from Europe 1, around sixty migrants were released on Thursday. They now have seven days to register at the prefecture and begin regularization procedures. But the Ministry of the Interior is very pessimistic. “If in the end, we end up expelling seven or eight, it will be a feat,” says a source close to the executive. As for the Paris police headquarters, it expects to find some of these migrants in the illegal camps at Porte de la Chapelle.