French far-right Member of the European Parliament Fabrice Leggeri is being investigated by a French court for his alleged complicity in crimes against humanity during his time as director of the EU border agency, Frontex.
Several civil society organisations accused him of having facilitated or covered up the pushback of migrant boats by Greek authorities to Turkey, as well as having helped Libyan coast guards intercept vessels attempting to reach Italy, according to Le Monde.
The organisations criticise him for having "opted for a policy aimed at preventing, whatever the cost – particularly in human lives – the entry of migrants into the European Union (EU)."
On Tuesday, the Paris Court of Appeal's investigation chamber followed up on a complaint filed in April 2024 by the nonprofit group Utopia 56 and the League for Human Rights (LDH), AFP reports.
Forced to resign
Frontex, the EU agency responsible for border control, was headed by Fabrice Leggeri between January 2015 and April 2022, when he was forced to resign after a year-long investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
The anti-fraud agency found at the time that he and two other staff members of Frontex were allegedly responsible for the pushbacks of migrants seeking asylum in EU Member States, as well as other internal irregularities at his office.
In 2024, he became a key figure in the National Rally, joining the French far-right party as number three on its list for the European elections.
Some one hundred people protest against European migration policy in the European quarter in Brussels, Saturday 18 December 2021. Credit: Belga
"For the first time, one or more French investigating judges will examine the grounds for the possible criminal liability of Fabrice Leggeri in the mass deaths that have resulted in thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean, particularly children and women," said LDH’s lawyer, Emmanuel Daoud, on Tuesday.
Some 82,000 migrants have died or gone missing since 2014, mainly in the Mediterranean (34,000), the world’s deadliest migration route, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
This figure is underestimated, according to the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which in a recent report highlighted the "serious violations" suffered by migrants "arbitrarily detained in official and unofficial detention centres" in Libya.
When contacted by Le Monde and AFP, Leggeri declined to comment. The Brussels Times has also put in a request.
