Sagan was imprisoned for smuggling migrants and sentenced to one and a half year in jail. Now, the court of appeal in the French town Douai has toughened his sentence to two years of jail time and a four-year entry ban to the country. MEP Tomáš Zdechovský, who has been helping Sagan, reacted on Twitter that there is no evidence of Sagan’s wrongdoing, but all they can do now is try to get him to the Czech Republic.
Sagan was defended by three lawyers, two French and one Czech. The defendant also presented his version of events. His attorneys opposed mainly procedural errors in investigations which the prosecutor, according to them, was not able to explain satisfactorily. The prosecutor, on the contrary, insists on Sagan´s guilt and even demanded to toughen the sentence.
The Czech driver was arrested at the beginning of last summer when fifteen Iraqi refugees were found in his truck trying to get from France to Great Britain. Since the beginning, Sagan has been saying that he did not know about them. According to him, they had to get into the truck secretly without his knowledge. He claims to have complied with all recommended safety rules.
The court of appeal in Douai announced its decision nearly a month after a court session took place on January 2nd. Sagan’s lawyers now consider whether there is any other procedure that could help him.
