Two NGOs have filed a complaint of “complicity in crimes against humanity” against the EU’s former head of border management, Fabrice Leggeri, just weeks before he is expected to be elected as an MEP for the national conservative Rassemblement National (RN).
His alleged crime? Trying to prevent illegal immigrants entering the EU. Which many might think sounds like doing his job as head of Frontex, the EU border management agency.
The NGOs filed the civil complaint against Leggeri in Paris on Monday, alleging that he engaged in human rights abuses by obstructing open border groups operating on the Mediterranean and enabling so-called ‘pushback’ operations against illegal migrants during his tenure leading Frontex between 2015 and 2022.
The claims centre around Frontex’s cooperation with the Libyan coastguard when Leggeri was at the helm. NGOs allege that returning the migrants to Libya made Leggeri and the organisation potentially complicit in “crimes against humanity”.
Leggeri has dismissed the allegations as “political manoeuvres to discredit me and discredit the RN list during the European elections.”
“When I was director of Frontex from 2015 to 2022, the European agency saved more than 350,000 migrants at sea in accordance with [the] international law of the sea,” he added.
Leggeri garnered headlines in February after the RN announced he would be their number three candidate for the EU elections. He said that Eurocrats “do not consider [migration] as a problem, but rather as a project: I can testify to this.”
The civil case against Leggeri has been lodged by the left-wing NGOs Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (LDH) and Utopia 56, both noted for their state and even corporate funding in the French press. Known for its work establishing refugee camps around France, most notably in Calais, Utopia 56 has previously used lawfare to frustrate authorities. The open border group on Tuesday released a statement accusing Legerri of having links to the use of torture by Libyan and Greek officials.
Leggeri went on the offensive on social media, saying that “defamation complaints are already being prepared against several members of LFI [the far left party La France Insoumise] who have publicly made this kind of totally unfounded accusations.” The politician is expected to be an influential figure within the Brussels Right after June alongside RN’s president Jordan Bardella, who heads the party’s list.
Leggeri has the strong backing of his party colleagues. RN MEP Patricia Chagnon-Clevers defended the former Frontex boss at the EU Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee, specifically pointing out the tendency of “representatives of the ‘camp of good’ to judge people guilty without even hearing them.”
Migration is expected to be a leading issue in June’s European elections, with EU attempts to mediate the flow of illegals into Europe with the Migration Pact branded by many populists as a cynical electoral plot to reassure voters.