The Nice resident was arrested last July at a motorway toll barrier near the border town of Ventimiglia and charged with "aiding illegal immigration." Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three years and four months and a 50,000-euro fine.

'I would do it again'

While leaving the court on Thursday after the judgment was passed, Croft said that he would do it again, if he had the chance. The acquittal was "an enormous relief for me as well as for all migrants," he said.

Public prosecutor Grazia Pradella said, "I never said that the three adults that Croft tried to take into France were "Islamic State" supporters. What the prosecution wanted to underscore is that our legal system cannot allow anyone, even in good faith or moved by humanitarian interests, to decide on state security [issues, ed.], and the violation of these regulations cannot be seen as an attenuating circumstance."

An acquittal was handed down due to "no crime having been committed."

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