In September 2023, the company Anavim, acting as a service provider, offered unemployed people the opportunity to work the grape harvest. Seventy people from Africa, living in the Paris region, traveled to the Champagne region; many of them were undocumented. The next day, about ten asked to leave, and the same happened the following day, citing the reasons, the living conditions, and the lack of food.
Following alerts from local residents and the CGT union, the grape harvesters were discovered by the labor inspectorate in dilapidated housing in Nesle-le-Repons. There were no sheets, no hot water... They were forced to work long hours and had not received a single cent of the EUR80 per day they had been promised.The trial in the first instance
Following an inspection by the labor inspectorate, the prefect of the Marne department issued an order on September 15th to close a hostel in Nesle-le-Repons that did not comply with regulations concerning collective accommodation. The report of the prefectural order denounces "the absence of a declaration of collective accommodation" and "the presence of numerous makeshift beds, the state of disrepair, decay, and unsanitary conditions, the lack of cleaning and disinfection, the repugnant condition of the toilets, sanitary facilities, and common areas, the accumulation of fecal matter in the sanitary facilities," as well as "the existence of an electrical hazard." The 52 seasonal workers, mostly from West Africa and undocumented, will be urgently rehoused in a hotel in Châlons-en-Champagne and in Reims by the Salvation Army. The public prosecutor's office in Châlons-en-Champagne has opened an investigation for "human trafficking." Complaints from the affected workers have been registered with law enforcement. Human trafficking is punishable by seven years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR150,000.
Four defendants will appear in court at the trial held on June 19, 2025, in Châlons-en-Champagne. It was quickly dubbed the "harvest of shame" case and garnered international attention. The defendants are the director of the service company Anavim, two recruiters, and the manager of the company Cerseuillat de la Gravelle. This company also provides services and hired more than 300 seasonal workers for the 2023 harvest, 57 of whom are alleged victims of modern slavery, for multiple clients. "I myself provide services to more than 40 clients in the Champagne region," one of the defendants stated. "I pick grapes for part of the village, for winegrowers, but also for members of the wine trade. At my pressing center alone, I have 14 Champagne houses that come to collect grape juice." The Champagne-based service provider thus paid the services of the company Anavim at a rate of EUR0.45 per kilo of grapes picked, well below market prices. He then invoiced his Champagne clients at EUR0.55 to EUR0.60 per kilo of grapes.
During the sentencing, the presiding judge denounced the acts as being of "exceptional gravity" and explained that the three main defendants had sought to "profit from vulnerable people." As such, they were all found guilty of "human trafficking committed against several persons" and received prison sentences. The director of the company Anavim was fined EUR20,000 and sentenced to four years in prison, two of which are suspended, with an immediate warrant for her arrest. The company was dissolved. The two recruiters were sentenced to three years' imprisonment, one of which is suspended, and two years' imprisonment, one of which is suspended, respectively. They were also ordered to pay fines of EUR5,000 and EUR3,000 respectively, are banned from residing in the Marne department for five years, and are prohibited from carrying or possessing a weapon for five years as well. The fourth defendant, the company Cerseuillat de la Gravelle, was fined EUR75,000. For once, a client was convicted, but as the general secretary of the CGT-Champagne inter-union group, which had joined the case as a civil party, stated, "The message sent to clients is strong, but will it be enough?"»
The appeal trial
The four convicted men had appealed their initial convictions. The appeal trial in the "harvest of shame" case of 2023 will take place on January 21 and 22, 2026. Before the start of the appeal trial in the "harvest of shame" case of 2023, about forty former grape harvesters, civil parties in the case, gathered at the Reims Court of Appeal alongside the CGT Marne union.
In the dock, the director of Anavim, the company that employed the grape harvesters, is the only one appearing in custody. One of the two recruiters is also present, appearing as a free man. All are accused of participating in human trafficking. Also present is the president of the Cerseuillat de la Gravelle wine cooperative, who was fined EUR75,000 for using Anavim's services without fulfilling his duty of care regarding the living and working conditions of the grape harvesters.
"People of color, they all look alike." The first defendant to be heard was the president of the wine cooperative, SARL Cerseuillat de la Gravelle. During the initial hearing, he was accused of failing to be vigilant regarding the living and working conditions of the grape harvesters, as well as in verifying their identity documents, having been swayed by the attractive prices offered by Anavim. He explained to the judge that he "didn't understand what he was doing there (...) I had photocopies of their ID cards. But I couldn't recognize them. It's not easy with people of color, they all look alike." "What accusation can you make against me? That's what I don't understand!" His argument that day was the same: he knew nothing about it. "She told me they would be staying in a farmhouse in Châlons, or that they would be traveling back and forth to Paris."
"This whole thing is a bit of a miracle, you say there are too many regulations, that it's hard to find workers, and then 80 people suddenly appear out of nowhere. Do they have accommodation? The truth is, you haven't considered the issue of housing," the grape harvesters' lawyer retorted. "Do you admit to having been negligent?" he adds. The man's reply: "No, not at all."
Husband under fire
Of the two recruiters who worked for Anavim, only one is present, a Georgian man in his thirties. He was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, in the first instance for human trafficking. Before the appeals court, he explains that he was deceived by the company director and her husband and never received the money he had been promised. "I'm a victim like everyone else. I was lied to," he asserts. He also speaks of "threats" from the couple and says he waited until his second period of police custody "to tell the truth." Before the court, he accuses his former employer and her husband of racist remarks and negligence. "They were poorly organized, they just wanted to make money," he claims, adding that she was fully aware of the living conditions of the 57 grape harvesters. This version undermines the defense of the director of Anavim, who maintains that she is "in no way responsible for this tragedy."
The director of Anavim admits to "management errors," but denies the rest. "The accusations that I was mocking people, threatening people, that's not true. There was no physical or verbal abuse of these people." She denies having known the grape harvesters were in Nesle-le-Repons. Yet, as the plaintiffs claim, it was she and her husband who were the ones getting off the bus to take them to Nesle-le-Repons. "That's false, it's impossible to say that!" "I know I did something terrible to these people, and I apologize, but it wasn't intentional at all. It was done under my company's letterhead, but I wasn't the one who organized, planned, or wanted to hire and house these people here."
"Where are you from?" The defense attorney, representing the only defendant who was absent, outraged part of the courtroom. His questions to the plaintiffs focused solely on their migration journeys: "Where are you from? Why did you leave Mali? How much did you pay? Did you go through Libya or Morocco? Why didn't you stay in Italy? Why did you come to France? You didn't give the police information about the smugglers, even though it's of interest to the French authorities! And so, you've had your status regularized since this whole affair, is that right?" Facing another plaintiff, he exclaimed: "People like you pay the smugglers who finance terrorism."
"We despise the victims."
"We haven't made much progress; we're still waiting for the defendants to become aware of their actions," lamented the plaintiffs' lawyer. "This is Mississippi Burning, it's a garbage dump where these people were forced to live!"
"When you have to sleep on the bare ground, like a dog... I don't even understand how you can contest human trafficking," he adds. "The victims are being treated with contempt. There is an abominable dimension of racism in this," he argues, joined by his fellow lawyer from the CCEM (Committee Against Modern Slavery), a civil party: "In the way they are recruited, dispatched, and fed, we see that people are not treated the same way, even in the most extreme poverty, depending on their origin." "Everyone in the dock is responsible at their level."
The unanswered questions
And then, in this case, there are also those who haven't been heard: first and foremost, the husband of the director of Anavim (they are now separated) who had asked her to find people for the grape harvest and who had personally contacted one of the two recruiters who were convicted. His shadow hangs over the entire case. At the hearing, the director described him as a violent man, "who takes advantage of others' kindness."
There is also the bus driver who allegedly acted aggressively towards the grape harvesters and who, according to the recruiter present, had a knife in his pocket. Finally, there are the police officers who checked the bus as it left Porte de la Chapelle in Paris and let it go with about fifty undocumented people on board.
"They were all obeying the boss's orders." In court, three former grape harvesters gave the same account of their hiring: the methods of The recruitment methods differed slightly, but they were all promised the same thing: accommodation and a minimum wage of 80 euros per day. This is how they were lured to Porte de la Chapelle and boarded a bus to the premises in Nesle-le-Repon, where they endured the ordeal they had already recounted before the Châlons-en-Champagne criminal court.(1)
Prison sentence requested
The public prosecutor, represented by the Advocate General at the Reims Court of Appeal, requested the same sentences as those already handed down in the first instance: four years' imprisonment, two of which are to be served, with continued detention for the director and the dissolution of her service company, Anavim; three years, one of which is to be served, and two years, one of which is to be served, for the two recruiters. The court also requested confirmation of the 75,000 euro fine imposed on the Cerseuillat de la Gravelle SARL.
The lawyer for the The director expressed her wish for a reduced prison sentence should her client be convicted.
The case was adjourned for deliberation, and the verdict was delivered on March 4, 2026. Prosecuted for undeclared work, employing foreign nationals without work permits, "subjecting vulnerable or dependent individuals to undignified living conditions," and providing "non-existent or insufficient compensation," the manager of the wine services company Anavim had her sentence upheld, as well as the dissolution of her company. Each of the 53 victims will also receive EUR4,000 in damages. The two other defendants, the alleged recruiters, received a less severe sentence: one year of suspended imprisonment. The company Cerseuillat de la Gravelle, accused of using the services of someone engaged in undeclared work, was acquitted on appeal.
The CGT supports the victims.
The CGT Champagne union supported the victims in this case to ensure that... Leaving them alone. "We've already helped them with the regularization process, because you know that when you're a victim of human traitors, you're automatically granted legal status. So the Prefect of the Marne at the time, Prefect Prévot, did a very, very good job, very quickly. I think there are three or four who should be having problems in Paris, but well, they'll be outside the regularization process, so we're helping them with all the paperwork, and also a lot with their mental health, because they've been deeply affected by this whole ordeal." (2)
Camille, March 2026
1) See the grape harvesters' testimony in CA 334 November 2023
2) See CA 353 October 2025
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4676
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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