This case involves a single migrant smuggling venture in which 19 Afghan nationals were driven in a van from Brescia, Italy, over the Brenner pass, into Austria, en route to Denmark. The van was apprehended by Austrian authorities at the border to Italy on 18 November 2010. The migrants were not permitted to leave the van and did not receive any food or drink during the journey. There was some evidence to suggest that the accused acted as part of a criminal group which had planned further migrant smuggling ventures for January 2011.
意大利奥地利Landesgericht (Regional Court)
The accused was convicted under § 114 of the Fremdenpolizeigesetz (AUT), smuggling of migrants (Schlepperei).
Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH) (Supreme Court)
Mr Balwinder S' appeal related only to the aggravating factor of having committed the offence as part of a criminal group. During the first trial, the Landesgericht Innsbruck held that he had acted in this circumstance because the offence included another car, whose purpose was to warn the accused of police controls and because the accused confessed to having planned further migrant smuggling venture 'until January [2011]'.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appellants arguments as insufficient, thus rejecting the appeal.
It left a further appeal on other matter to the Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court of Appeal) Innsbruck to decide.
Oberlandesgericht (OLG) (Higher Regional Court)
The appeal to the Oberlandesgericht Innsbruck is mentioned in the appeal decision by the OGH of 12 May 2011 (see above). Further information about the appeal and its outcome were not available at the time of writing.
It was intended to complete the entire, 1300 kms long journey in a single venture, and for this reason the smuggled migrants were not allowed to leave the van and were not given any food or drink. A court later described the conditions in the van as 'cruel'.
Although the charges against Mr Balwinder S. refer to a 'criminal group', there is no further information about other persons involved in this case.
Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH) (Supreme Court)
13Os35/11p (OGH, 12 May 2011)
This entry was copied from The Migrant Smuggling Case Database, launched by the University of Queensland Migrant Smuggling Working Group in August 2013.
