The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) tells franceinfo that six men and a woman aged 33 to 39, belonging to the ultra-left, will be tried in correctional courts in Paris from October 3 to 27. They are suspected of having wanted to attack French soldiers and police in 2020.
Seven members of the ultra-left, six men and one woman aged 33 to 39 will be tried in correctional courts in Paris from October 3 to 27, 2023, for “terrorist conspiracy“, learned Tuesday July 11 franceinfo from the national anti-terrorism prosecution (Pnat).
The seven people will be tried before the 16th correctional chamber. They had been arrested in December 2020 in various places in the territory, such as Rennes, Dordogne or even in the Paris region, then indicted on this charge. They are accused of their participation in a group “intended to commit violent actions with a view to destabilizing institutions through intimidation or terror“, detailed the prosecution.
Among the defendants, an activist suspected of having trained others in the use of weapons
Three of the defendants will also be tried for “refusal to submit a secret convention for deciphering a means of cryptology”, i.e. their mobile phone codes. Five of them had been remanded in custody. None are detained to date. They will appear free.
Among those tried in November, an activist, Florian D., is suspected of having trained the six others in the manufacture of explosives and the use of weapons. He is an autonomous anarchist militant who returned from Syria, where he had fought for almost 10 months against the Islamic State alongside the Kurds of Rojava, a Kurdish enclave in Syria. “Driven by a violent ideology inspired in particular by the Greek terrorist organizations of the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire, Florian D. took the initiative to recruit, train and prepare a group of partisans in order to carry out violent actions on the National territory”explains the Pnat.
CRS equipment found in the home of a suspect
According to the Pnat, he subsequently “convinced various members of the ultra-left movement – his girlfriend, childhood friends or ZAD and squat comrades – to prepare for a struggle that primarily targets law enforcement officials”, adds the floor. Since his return in January 2018, the DGSI had been monitoring this man. He was placed in pre-trial detention between December 11, 2020 and April 7, 2022, then released under judicial supervision after a hunger strike. In this man’s truck, the police had found something to make an explosive device: TATP explosive product, steel balls, but also a sawed-off shotgun, a revolver, a knife and ammunition.
During the searches carried out by the DGSI (General Directorate of Internal Security), CRS equipment was also found at the home of one of the suspects, such as leggings, a helmet, a police shield.
Before this case, the last known referral to the anti-terrorism justice system for facts linked to the ultra-left dates back to the Tarnac case in 2008, for suspicion of sabotage of TGV lines. But the terrorist qualifications, the subject of a bitter debate, had been abandoned by the courts before the trial.