Three years after the tragedy, a 45-year-old Vietnamese was sentenced on Wednesday in Belgium to 15 years in prison for having played a leading role in the smuggling of migrants which resulted in the death of 39 of his compatriots in a truck.
Vo Van Hong was considered in the Belgian part of the investigation as the leader of the organization having acted from Brussels, where at least 15 of the victims had been taken care of.
A total of 39 bodies were found on October 23, 2019 in the back of a refrigerated truck in the industrial area of Grays, east London.
It is one of the most shocking immigration dramas of recent years.
Procedures in 4 different countries
The victims of this tragedy, 31 men and eight women, were all from a poor region of central Vietnam, where families go into debt to the tune of thousands of dollars to send one of their own to the United Kingdom via clandestine channels.
They died of asphyxiation and hyperthermia due to the heat and lack of oxygen in the confined space of the container.
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The container had arrived on British soil from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, and an investigation had quickly been opened in Belgium to identify the relays of this trafficking in human beings who had acted from Belgian territory.
Legal proceedings have been initiated in at least four countries, including Belgium.
A total of 23 people, mainly Vietnamese or Belgians of Vietnamese origin, were tried in December 2021 before the Bruges Criminal Court.
In the delivery of the judgment, which began on Wednesday morning, the president of the court was to detail the responsibilities of each.
Up to ten years in prison required
The latter began with the case of Vo Van Hong, convicted of having led "a criminal organization" in Belgium which allowed the clandestine passage to the United Kingdom of a total of "115 people" identified between September 2018 and May 2020. Vo Van Hong was also fined nearly 1 million euros.
Against his 22 co-defendants, sentences ranging from one to ten years in prison were required.
In addition to Vo Van Hong, four defendants appear detained.