Thirteen people affiliated with the ultra-right Barjols group appear from Tuesday in Paris, suspected of having prepared a series of violent actions including a plan to attack Emmanuel Macron at the end of 2018, on the sidelines of the centenary of the armistice.
On the internet, on the telephone or during meetings with paramilitary overtones, the suspects would also have fomented a “putsch”murders of migrants or attacks on mosques, according to the indictment which referred to the criminal court these 11 men and two women, aged 26 to 66.
Investigation into this ultra-right who dreams of overthrowing the Republic
None of these projects, however, has seen the start of execution and, after four years of investigation, the scope of the file has been revised downwards: the criminal qualification, initially retained, has been abandoned in favor of the offense of association of criminals with a view to the preparation of acts of terrorism, punishable by ten years of imprisonment.
The defense sees in this the sign of a fragile file, built on the “fiction of a passage to violent action” and on a “totally abusive terrorist characterization”according to the formula of Me Lucile Collot.
Guns and Facebook post
The case begins at the end of 2018 with a tip. Internal intelligence is the recipient of information according to which an ultra-right militant from Isère, Jean-Pierre Bouyer, is planning to attack Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of the commemorations of the armistice planned for the beginning of November in the east of France. France. An anti-terrorism investigation is opened on October 31.
Behind the scenes of Emmanuel Macron’s protection team
The social climate is then in turmoil. A surge in fuel prices during the summer gave rise to widespread discontent which culminated on November 17 in the founding act of the movement of “yellow vests”.
On November 6, the police took action. Mr. Bouyer, then 62 years old, was arrested with three other men close to the ultra-right as they went to the home of one of them in Moselle.
In the Peugeot 406 of this former mechanic, converted into a logging manager in Gabon, a dagger of the type “commandos” and a military vest. Firearms and ammunition were seized from his home.
The investigators are also interested in the writings of this sexagenarian with a clean record who, on Facebook, calls for “eliminate those who seek to harm you” and targets the Head of State, described as “hysterical little dictator”.
“Great replacement” and secret meetings
During police custody, Mr. Bouyer slips that he wanted “kill Macron” and suggested to one of his co-defendants, who wanted to take action during a “crowd bath”, to use an undetectable ceramic blade. Words that he will later describe as simple words.
“He admits that it may have been a subject of discussion but assures that it was never more than that”told AFP his lawyer Olivia Ronen, who regrets that the investigation has “forgot to replace” the anti-Macron remarks of his client “in the context of the times”.
A parliamentary report worries about the “terrorist temptation” of the ultra-right
The investigators then proceed to other arrests in the wake of the “Barjols”a nationalist ultra-right group formed on Facebook in 2017 and of which Mr. Bouyer was a leader.
MP Kidnapping Plans
Arrested in March 2020, Denis Collinet, 63, is the leader of this collective follower of the theory of “great replacement” and secret meetings. One of them, near Vigy (Moselle), will bring together eight of the defendants and will constitute, according to the investigators, the “high point” the preparation of violent actions, among which ” skip “ mosques or kill the head of state.
Plans to kidnap MPs and a putsch are also discussed during these meetings, during which participants train in shooting or first aid.
“It is established that the plans for violent action conceived by the members of the Barjols group (…) were aimed exclusively at seriously disturbing public order through intimidation or terror”concluded the investigating magistrates.
According to a defense lawyer, Me Gabriel Dumenil, the defendants share a “contesting vision of the government” and words “sometimes extreme”. “But does this reflect a desire to take action and attempt the life of the Head of State? No “. The trial is due to end on February 3.
