Far-right MEP and former director of Frontex Fabrice Leggeri, at the European Parliament in Brussels, on May 13, 2025. MARTIN BERTRAND/HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
The French judiciary is set to investigate possible complicity in crimes against humanity and in acts of torture by Fabrice Leggeri, the former director general of Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency. In a ruling dated March 18, reported by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, March 24, 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) with the senior investigating judge of the Paris judicial tribunal.
Contacted for comment, Leggeri declined to respond to this decision. "It's is a relief," said Utopia 56 spokesperson Charlotte Kwantes, even though the group's request to be granted plaintiff status in the case was rejected. "At last, a court is taking an interest in the agency's actions, which have long been known thanks to revelations from OLAF [the European Anti-Fraud Office] and journalistic investigations."
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