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WORLD NEWS Friday 15 June 2018

Hungary sends smugglers to prison for 71 suffocation deaths

By PABLO GORONDI Iraq and Afghanistan suf-
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — focated in the back of
A Hungarian court on Thurs- a refrigerated truck with
day sentenced four human Hungarian license plates.
traffickers to 25 years in The truck was found aban-
prison each for their roles doned in the emergency
in the 2015 case in which lane of a highway near
71 migrants suffocated to Parndorf, Austria, near the
death in the back of a re- Hungarian border, on Aug.
frigerated truck found on a 27, 2015. The migrants had
highway in Austria. boarded that truck near
The principal defendant, the village of Morahalom,
an Afghan man, and three at Hungary's southern bor-
Bulgarian accomplices, der with Serbia, before
were found guilty in the heading toward Austria.
southern city of Kecskemet According to prosecutors,
of being part of a criminal who had requested life
organization and commit- sentences for the four main
ting multiple crimes, includ- defendants, the 71 victims
ing human smuggling and "suffocated in horrendous
murder. conditions three hours after
Ten other defendants, the departure," while still in
mostly Bulgarians, were giv- Hungary. Prosecutor Gabor
en prison terms ranging be- This June 12, 2018 photo released Wednesday, June 13, 2018 by French NGO "SOS Mediterranee" Schmidt said he would ap-
tween three and 12 years. shows migrants on the Aquarius ship after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea. peal the sentences, saying
Three of the men convict- Associated Press they are too lenient.q
ed are fugitives.
In France, meanwhile, Pres- forced the convoy of ships on Tuesday.
ident Emmanuel Macron's now carrying them to take Lt. Cmdr. Zachary Harrell,
office confirmed that he a detour after high waves a spokesman for the U.S.
will host Italian Premier Gi- caused some of the ex- 6th Fleet, said the survivors
useppe Conte on Friday hausted migrants aboard aboard the Trenton, a sup-
amid an escalating dispute to be seasick. port ship, included four mi-
between the two countries The migrants are traveling nors and came from coun-
over migration. The Ely- from the central Mediter- tries including Sudan, South
see said that Macron and ranean Sea aboard the Sudan, Nigeria and the
Conte spoke by phone on Aquarius, a rescue vessel Central African Republic.
Wednesday. operated by aid group SOS Navy rescuers also spotted
Italy had demanded an Mediterranee, and two 12 "not responsive" persons
apology after the French boats of the Italian govern- in the sea, but they were
president accused its new ment. unable to retrieve any bod-
populist Italian government Spanish deputy Prime Min- ies.
of irresponsible behavior for ister Carmen Calvo said The Trenton initially had
refusing to allow a rescue authorities would examine asked a private rescue ship
ship carrying 629 migrants case by case if the migrants off Libya, the Sea Watch-3,
to dock at an Italian port. qualify for asylum accord- if it would take aboard the
Macron said he "had not ing to the country's regu- survivors. But Sea Watch,
made any comment in- lations. Calvo said minors wary of embarking on an
tended to offend Italy and and women were a priority, odyssey similar to what
the Italian people," the especially those who may befell the Aquarius, said it
statement said. have been trafficked or ex- couldn't unless the Rome-
Conte said the chat with ploited in their attempts to based rescue coordination
Macron had been "very reach Europe. center assigned it a safe
cordial" and confirmed Fri- In the aftermath of a sepa- port within navigation dis-
day's meeting in Paris. rate rescue in waters off tance.
Spain on Monday an- Libya, the U.S. Navy said That didn't happen, so the
nounced it would allow the it was still awaiting a deci- 40 survivors stayed aboard
629 migrants to dock at the sion on where it could dis- the Navy vessel.
port of Valencia, where embark 40 African migrants In the Hungarian case, 59
they are expected Sunday it rescued at sea after a men, eight women and
morning. Bad weather has smugglers' boat capsized four children from Syria,