A French farmer who helped migrants dodge police to cross the French-italian border has been given a 3,000-euro suspended sentence, reports RFI.
The court in Nice passed sentence on Cédric Herrou on Friday morning, rejecting prosecutors' call for an eight-month suspended prison term.
It found him guilty of meeting migrants, most of them Eritrean, on Italian soil to bring them to France but not guilty of other charges, in particular housing illegal immigrants and placing them in a disused holiday home belonging to the SNCF rail company.
Herrou vowed to carry on helping migrants after the verdict.
"We'll continue our action and the threats of a prefect and the insults of one or two politicians won't stop us," he declared on the steps of the courthouse. "We'll continue because it is necessary to continue."
France's immigration law punishes people who facilitate the illegal entry, movement or residence of a foreigner in France, allowing for sentences of up to five years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.
In a similar case in the same region, researcher Pierre-Alain Mannoni was acquitted last month.
Rights groups say Herrou's is one of a growing number of "crimes of solidarity" with migrants and minority groups going through the French courts.