PARIS (Sputnik) – The court found Cedric Herrou guilty for "facilitating illegal immigration," the Franceinfo broadcaster reported. Herrou, 38, along with some other people residing in the French-Italian border area, helped transport and shelter migrants, coming from Sudan, Eritrea and Nigeria via the Mediterranean Sea.
Herrou helped about 200 migrants with crossing the border, using his own vehicle, and accommodating them in his farm in the Roya valley in Maritime Alps on France's southern border with Italy, according to the French authorities.
Commenting on the matter, the farmer said as aired on the French television that he "did not regret anything," stressing that it was his civil duty to act where the state was failing.
In February, Herrou was handed a 3,000-euro ($354) penalty by a correctional court in Nice, which, nevertheless, suspended an eight-month prison term for the activist.