Thirteen people to stand trial over alleged plot to attack French president

Thirteen members of an extreme far-right group have been ordered to stand trial for allegedly plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018.

"Anti-Macron" tags in Saint-Ouen, north of Paris, 23 February, 2021. AP - Adrienne Surprenant

Eleven men and two women, who were part of a Facebook group called the "Barjols" (Crazies), are suspected of plotting attacks on Macron and members of his government, as well as mosques and migrants.

Jean-Pierre Bouyer, who is retired, is suspected of being the leader and had allegedly discussed attacking Macron in public with a ceramic knife which security services would not be able to detect in advance.

Police closed in on the group and made arrests in 2018 after Bouyer drove to Moselle in eastern France where Macron was attending a memorial on the centenary of the end of the World War I.

• Six far-right suspects held over 'plot' against Macron

Investigating magistrates have ordered a trial from 12 January to 2 February next year, according to their written decision seen by AFP.

The suspects face charges of terrorist conspiracy and preparing terrorist acts, which carry sentences of up to 30 years in prison. 

"It has been established that violent plans were being drawn up by members of the Barjols groups ... with intent to cause serious public order disturbances through intimidation and terror," the magistrates wrote.

Firstly "by carrying out violent acts against the head of state and members of the government in order to overthrow public institutions by force and also by targeting symbolic locations such as mosques or specific groups such as migrants in order to influence the policies of the government". 

'Exaggerated' claims

Jennifer Madar, lawyer for the one suspect still in custody, said the case was in reality "no more or less than a Yellow Vest file," referring to the anti-government protest movement sparked by fuel hikes in November 2018.

She qualified her client as a "political prisoner" who was "very isolated and opposed to the Macron government" at the time.

"There is a lot of confusion around the suspects' discussions," she told AFP, "a lot of fantasy in what they say; they exaggerate a lot to get into the group but none of them had the means [to carry out what they said they would]."

The charges of conspiring to carry out acts of terrorism "was not meant to be applied to people who say 'death to Macron'", she said.

(with AFP)