Rights Watchdog Urges France To Drop Charges Against UK Human Rights Activist

A prominent human rights watchdog called on Wednesday for France to drop "unjust" charges against Tom Ciotkowski, a UK citizen who was arrested in 2018 on assault charges, ahead of his trial on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2019) A prominent human rights watchdog called on Wednesday for France to drop "unjust" charges against Tom Ciotkowski, a UK citizen who was arrested in 2018 on assault charges, ahead of his trial on Thursday.

Ciotkowski was charged with contempt and assault after he recorded and challenged a French police officer who had allegedly pushed a volunteer who had been distributing food to migrants and refugees in France's northern city of Calais. On Thursday the 30-year-old UK citizen will go to trial and potentially face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 7,500 ($8,400).

"Tom Ciotkowski is a compassionate young volunteer who was taking action to support migrants and refugees when he was arrested.

He has committed no crime and is being unjustly targeted for documenting the abusive behaviour of the police in Calais," Amnesty International's senior campaigner on migration, Maria Serrano, said.

Serrano added that Ciotkowski's case was emblematic of the harassment and intimidation that human rights supporters faced at the hands of police in Calais.

Additionally, Amnesty International said that that Ciotkowski's case reflected a wider trend of European governments criminalizing acts of solidarity to discourage people from standing up for human rights, and called on EU governments to stop treating solidarity as a crime.

The trial will start on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. (11:30 GMT) at the Tribunal de Boulogne-Sur-Mer in northern France.