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WORLD NEWS Friday 22 November 2019

French courts face touchy test: Is helping migrants a crime?

By NICOLAS VAUX-MON- dence and appealed, and that has tested how the
TAGNY the regional appeals court French judiciary handles
CLAIRE PARKER in Grenoble is handing citizens providing aid to mi-
Associated Press down its verdict Thursday. grants since France's Con-
LYON, France (AP) — A Lawyer Chaudon argues stitutional Council upheld
French court is to rule that in the Alps, cell phone the "principle of fraternity"
Thursday on whether to signals and ski slopes often in 2018.
convict a mountain guide straddle both sides of the That ruling came after
of helping migrants enter border. the high-profile case of
the country illegally — the "My client is reproached for farmer Cedric Herrou, who
latest case that is testing going back and forth be- housed some 200 migrants
France's "principle of frater- tween the two countries, in the Alps' Roya valley and
nity" allowing humanitarian but he is a ski instructor and helped them travel within
aid for irregular migrants. the slopes of Montgenèvre France. He was convicted
The cases have centered cross into Italy," Chaudon in 2017 of helping migrants
on the Alps, where migrants This Jan. 4, 2017 photo shows a crowd supporting Cedric Herrou, told The Associated Press. illegally cross the border.
traverse snowy passes be- a French activist farmer accused of helping African migrants to Between 1,500 and 2,000 EU rules criminalize those
tween Italy and France, cross the border from Italy, in Nice, southern France. migrants tried to illegally who help migrants without
many ill-equipped for the Associated Press cross the border between the proper documenta-
cold. Each year some die ing legal humanitarian as- this year for "aiding the ir- France and Italy during a tion from crossing into or
of hypothermia. sistance. Tous Migrants co- regular entry of foreigners," three-month period that transit through member
Pierre Mumber, a 55-year- president Michel Rousseau giving him a three-month winter, fueling both human- states, as well as those who
old ski instructor and mem- said Mumber was bringing suspended sentence. It itarian efforts to help them house migrants for financial
ber of migrant rights organi- warm clothes and drinks to pointed to the fact that his and calls by nationalist pol- gain. Some countries have
zation Tous Migrants, came migrants when he was ar- cell phone signals bounced iticians for a crackdown. more stringent restrictions;
across several West African rested. Mumber's lawyer, off the Italian side as evi- It's part of a Europe-wide Denmark, for instance, has
migrants in January 2018 as Philippe Chaudron, has ar- dence that Mumber had migrant challenge, since prosecuted hundreds of its
he hiked through the Mont- gued that his client helped illegally helped them cross both countries are part of citizens for giving migrants
genèvre pass in search of them on French soil. the border. the European Union's bor- food or a lift. Germany and
people needing help. A court in the city of Gap His lawyer says the pros- der-free travel zone. Switzerland have also seen
Mumber argues he was giv- convicted Mumber earlier ecutor had insufficient evi- The case is one of several similar court cases.q
Nothing to C: Climate activists prank Merkel’s CDU party

By FRANK JORDANS — they added a banner While Merkel's party re-
DAVID RISING reading, "should protect cently agreed a package
Associated Press the climate." Later, after of measures to reduce car-
BERLIN (AP) — Environ- someone removed the gi- bon emissions, environmen-
mental activists brazenly ant "DU" letters, the activists talists say they won't be
marched off with a giant rappelled down the front of enough to effectively stop
letter "C" from the entrance the building and pasted a global warming.
of Angela Merkel's Christian new part on their banner to In preparation for the ca-
Democratic Union party spell it out again for morn- per, the group also brought
headquarters in broad day- ing commuters to see. their own giant "C's" with
light Thursday in a stunt to The group says it removed them and established a
protest its climate change the "C" — thus taking the Twitter account, " Das C " —
policies. "Christian" out of the "Chris- or "The C."
Members of Greenpeace Greenpeace activists remove the 'C' of the short form 'CDU' tian Democratic Union" In a video tweeted by the
waltzed into the CDU build- for 'Christian Democratic Union' to create the slogan 'DU sollst party name — because group, one member is seen
das Klima schützen' ('YOU should protect the climate') during
ing in downtown Berlin in a protest at German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party they maintain Merkel's par- trundling off down the road
the morning and snatched headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019. ty hasn't been upholding in front of the CDU head-
the 2-meter-tall (6.5-foot- the Christian imperative to quarters with a giant "C"
tall) letter from inside the glass. To the remaining "DU" — German for "you" protect creation. strapped to his back.q