Overview
- The Paris Court of Appeal authorized a judicial investigation into Fabrice Leggeri, focusing on claims that Frontex policies under his leadership enabled illegal pushbacks and interceptions of migrants.
- Prosecutors can now gather evidence in a preliminary phase that does not amount to an indictment, and any charges would need a parliamentary vote to waive his immunity as a Member of the European Parliament.
- The case stems from a 2024 complaint by the Human Rights League (LDH) and Utopia 56 that an investigative judge first threw out before the groups won an appeal to reopen it.
- French far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella defended Leggeri and described the case as judicial harassment by left-wing organizations, while Leggeri declined comment through representatives.
- Leggeri led Frontex from 2015 to 2022 and resigned after an EU anti-fraud probe found wrongdoing that included illegal Aegean Sea pushbacks, a backdrop to wider concerns as UN bodies count tens of thousands of migrant deaths on Mediterranean routes since 2014.