The trial of thirteen ultra-right activists opened on Tuesday January 17 before the Paris Criminal Court. Eleven men and two women aged 26 to 66 are suspected of having wanted to prepare a series of violent actions against migrants, deputies, Muslims and against the head of state Emmanuel Macron, in November 2018.
With our special correspondent at the Paris courthouse, Moissonniere Marine
“ We do no religion, no politics, no morals. We do law. ” Of the the start of the trial, Tuesday, the president of the court Thomas Jouck wanted to set a clear framework. Firstly because nine of the thirteen defendants have never had to deal with justice. But also because all of them are ultra-right activists adept at conspiracy theories. So he insists, he rejects “ the fantasy of political justice “but also seeks to reassure the defendants:” Thought in politics is not an offense in itself “.
After four years of investigation, these eleven men and two women were sent to trial for having prepared a “ violent action against Emmanuel Macron at the end of 2018 and having fomented the assassinations of migrants or attacks on mosques. They are being prosecuted for criminal association of terrorist criminals. The defendants all gravitated around the Barjols, a small group from a Facebook group in 2017, follower of paramilitary meetings and the conspiracy theory of the “great replacement”.
diabetic cat
Opposite, several of them answer him that in any case, this trial, they will not be able to attend it for more than a day or two. It’s too expensive for this unemployed woman who lives far from Paris. Another defendant does housework. No job, no pay. And then there is this man who has just signed a promise of employment after months of unemployment. But he prefers to highlight his diabetic cat in Brittany, to whom only he can inject his insulin every day.
To each, the president reminds them that they are being prosecuted for terrorism and that it is important for the court to hear them.