This is the first time a European official has been investigated for crimes against humanity committed against refugees. In line with its mission, front-LEX is seeking to join the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH) as a civil party in this case.
“This is also the first time since Nuremberg that a European has been accused of committing international crimes,” said Dr. Omer Shatz, who directs the Criminal and Human Rights Law Department at front-LEX. “Representing numerous victims of EU border policies, we are today launching a campaign seeking the criminal prosecution of dozens of EU officials in their own countries for their complicity in crimes against refugees. The rule of law means one thing: the law applies equally and to everyone. No one – be it Assad or Hans Leijtens – has immunity for atrocity crimes. All EU officials now know: after two decades, the impunity they have enjoyed is over.”
Through this action, front-LEX aims to support the French judicial authorities in their investigation by contributing its years-long expertise. Since 2021, front-LEX has been criminally investigating Leggeri and many other senior EU officials in connection with EU migration policies in the Mediterranean. front-LEX also aspires to enable victims of these policies – whom front-LEX represents – to participate in these proceedings.
As head of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), Leggeri designed and orchestrated these criminal policies. During his tenure, 25,000 civilians were killed by drowning in the Mediterranean; tens of thousands of others were abducted from EU soil and abandoned at sea by EU agents; tens of thousands of others were captured and forcibly transferred to torture camps in Libya. This mass violence amounts to the crimes against humanity of murder, rape, torture, enslavement, deportation, persecution, enforced disappearances, imprisonment, and other inhuman acts.
Fabrice Leggeri resigned from Frontex in April 2022 following legal actions front-LEX submitted to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), and notably after the conclusion of an investigation by the EU’s own Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). He has since been elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the French far-right party Rassemblement National.
This action builds on front-LEX’s ongoing criminal law litigation, seeking to enforce the criminal responsibility of EU officials for crimes against humanity against refugees. In 2019, front-LEX co-director Omer Shatz co-submitted the first International Criminal Court (ICC) case against Leggeri and dozens of other EU officials in connection with these crimes. In 2023, the UN corroborated his claims, finding that, for the first time since Nuremberg, European officials are complicit in crimes against humanity. In 2025, front-LEX filed a second ICC case, seeking the prosecution of 122 European nationals and the investigation of more than 500 others who are allegedly implicated in these ongoing crimes.
In 2026, the ICC finally arrested and indicted a Libyan national accused of committing these crimes. Yet the ICC still grants his European counterparts, including Leggeri, full impunity. The present legal action in France, therefore, is part of a broader campaign in which front-LEX is seeking the prosecution of European suspects before national courts on the basis of universal jurisdiction.
front-LEX thanks Advs. Emmanuel Daoud and Justine Vinet from VIGO Law Firm, who represent us in this legal action; our trainee lawyer, Ms. Sophie Zafra, who contributed to this case; and all the survivors of these crimes, whose resilience inspires us.