On the second day of the trial of the “Barjols”, this ultra-right group, the two main defendants assured that they had never prepared a plan to attack Emmanuel Macron.
In police custody at the premises of the DGSI, Antoine D., the youngest of the defendants, affirms it: the three men arrested at the same time as him on November 5, 2018 in Moselle, Jean-Paul Bouyer, Mickaël Iber and David Gasparini, had the ambition to assassinate the President of the Republic. The latter was then traveling in the department to commemorate the Centenary of the Great War in 2018.
Asked this Wednesday, Mickaël Iber minimizes. “We were half drunk, that evening we drank whiskey when we were at Gasparini’s, I remember that”, explains this 39-year-old man in a dry and rapid tone. Mickaël Iber is the only one of the 13 defendants in this “Barjols” trial to be judged detained. This former homeless man has been in pre-trial detention for 50 months, a situation which, he says, is causing him to lose his memory.
Faced with questions from the criminal court, on several occasions, he assures us that he no longer “remembers” having been able to mention killing Emmanuel Macron.
“I’m going to put it where the president?”
Asked late about this possible assassination plan, Mickaël Iber had ended up recognizing during his 96 hours of custody, the legal deadline when it comes to terrorist acts, having declared to his interlocutors on November 5, 2018, about of Emmanuel Macron: “I take him by the hand, I shoot, and tac tac and I use a knife”. “No, I said ‘it surprises me that when he goes to agricultural shows, there is not a peasant or other who catches him and puts one on him'”, he defends himself today today.
“We were enormously angry, remembers the one who fully claims to belong to the movement of yellow vests. Most people were angry with Macron. We all had comments that went beyond our thoughts. Not only us in the room, many French citizens”, he adds.
At the heart of the audience, these multiple messages sent by SMS or encrypted Telegram messaging. In September, the defendant questions his interlocutor: “Are you ready to catch the whore on the 5th?”. Mickaël Iber brushes off the accusations:
“I was talking about protesting, we were always talking about protesting.” He assures her, it was his obsession to organize a massive gathering.
“We could take advantage of it at this time to mount a big blow”, he nevertheless evokes in one of his many exchanges. And the messages exchanged with a friend met on the networks talking about a possible kidnapping of the Head of State during a visit to Morange on November 5, 2018? That day, Mickaël Iber recalls that he was with his uncle and aunt in Luxembourg to “go shopping”.
“It was ironic, I’m not going to kidnap a president, he hammers standing in his box, jogging and black jacket on his back. I’m going to put it where the president, in my pocket?”
“I was doing my interesting”
For the prosecution, the thirteen defendants tried since Tuesday by the Paris Criminal Court had the ambition to take action, whether by assassinating the President of the Republic, or by attacking people of Muslim faith or wealthy people. In April 2018, Mickaël Iber exchanged with David Gasparini on a possible supply of weapons. He assures him that he can “have a delivery within one to two weeks of toys, so like Glock toys, pump, Uzi, Kalash”.
– “David Gasparini fears a civil war, Jean-Pierre Bouyer wants to attack mosques and migrants, and you tell one of the two that you can have a delivery of toys, what were you thinking?”, questions him President.
– “To nothing, Judge, it was bullshit. To make my interest, there was nothing. Mr. Gasparini yelled at me several times. I was doing my interesting thing, that’s all”, pleads- he.
Moreover, Mickaël Iber recognizes it: when the presumed leader of this project, Jean-Pierre Bouyer, accompanied by Antoine D., comes to Moselle at the beginning of November 2018, it is to obtain weapons. Not to kill Emmanuel Macron but “to protect his daughter and his wife”, insists the man in the box, admitting to having “lied” to him. For his lawyer, the best proof that Mickaël Iber sought to impress is that the latter claimed to be able to cut “electricity in France”.
The “Barjols”, “blabla and partygoers”
A dented childhood, marked by sexual assaults committed during his stay as an intern, which he refuses to mention in court, and a chaotic life course, Mickaël Iber met David Gasparini on Facebook. “He posted videos of horse food, we started talking about survivalism together, he brought me into the group, the Barjols group”, explains Mickaël Iber, whose concern at the time was “life Dear”.
From this group of ultra-right, follower of survivalism, he retains “blabla and party animals”. He admits having participated in two of their meetings, in particular in Vigy, in Moselle, in March 2018. Then “in extreme poverty outside”, he claims to have gone there to “eat a piece of meat”. In Vigy, he confirms having completed the membership form declaring a motivation of “20” on a scale of “one to 10” to “turn this corrupt government over and give France back to the people”.
“It was bullshit that I was saying, it was words that went beyond my thoughts, he defends himself. With alcohol we say bullshit, I know that does not excuse everything but everyone was warming up and say anything.”
From the “Barjols”, he remembers barbecues and alcohol, far from the secret meetings and paramilitary training mentioned by the prosecution. “Everyone remakes the world a little”, he assures confirming that “there are some who have virulent remarks”. He too made virulent remarks, in particular by claiming to want to kill migrants like “Bobby and Clyde (sic)”.
“I’m sorry, these are words I shouldn’t have had,” he concludes now, while his lawyer highlights his need for recognition.
