France: descendants of enslaved people want compensation – 05/31/2023 – Market

France’s Court of Cassation, the highest court, examined on Wednesday (31) an appeal filed by various associations and individuals to obtain reparation from the state for “transgenerational prejudice” suffered by the descendants of enslaved people.

After the rejection of their complaint in the first instance and on appeal, three associations and 23 individuals appealed to the Court of Cassation to establish prejudice related to the trafficking of Africans, in which France actively participated from the 17th century until the abolition of slavery, in 1848.

Acknowledging this prejudice would allow, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, “to go beyond” the law, “only symbolic”, passed in 2001 in France and which established the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

The objective is to obtain an indemnity that feeds a fund for the demands of the descendants of slaves, Spinosi told AFP.

The attorney general, Blandine Mallet-Bricout, who represents the Public Ministry, defended the rejection of the process.

The Court of Cassation will announce its decision on July 5.