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They took advantage of the vulnerability of migrants they brought from Algeria and terrorized them to keep them under their control.
Three men were found guilty of violence and kidnapping against undocumented migrants by the Nantes court on Monday, reports
Presse Océan
.
The trio, also convicted of drug trafficking, received prison sentences ranging from two to five years.
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This case was triggered last November by the complaint of a man in an irregular situation.
He had described the violent attack he had suffered from his sponsors: a deep gash on the face which had required fifteen stitches.
An injury inflicted because the municipal police of Nantes had seized counterfeit cigarettes that he was reselling.
Later, another migrant explained to the police that he was threatened with a knife and then beaten.
An attack that had been published on social networks.
Ban on French territory
Faced with these stories, the investigators had set up reinforced surveillance around Place Commerce in Nantes, known to be a place of illicit trafficking.
Because of the actions of the trio, the police dubbed
them “the kingpins of Commerce migrants”
in their report.
During their "hideout", the police noted a strong presence of the three thirty-somethings in the city center of Nantes, exchanges of tickets and numerous telephone exchanges.
So many elements to charge according to the public prosecutor who evoked a
"regime of terror"
established by the trio.
The latter, if they admitted having held narcotics found during searches, denied the acts of violence and kidnappings of which they were accused.
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A defense that did not convince the court.
One of the defendants was sentenced to five years in prison as well as a ban on French territory for ten years.
The second was sentenced to three years in prison and the same inadmissibility.
The last member of the trio will have to spend two years in prison and is prohibited from going to Nantes for three years.
During the hearing, as our colleagues indicate, a police source mentioned that the migrants who had testified against these three men had left Nantes for fear of possible
"reprisals"
.
