Four far-right suspects charged in France for plotting attacks. — Reuters pic
PARIS, Oct 9 — A French anti-terrorist judge has charged four men with suspected links to a far-right conspiracy theorist for allegedly plotting a series of attacks, including on coronavirus vaccination centres, a judicial source said today.
Two of the men are also accused of involvement in the kidnapping of an eight-year-old girl in April.
Remy Daillet, a leading figure in conspiracy circles, was arrested in June over the kidnapping as he returned to France on a flight from Singapore.
The four charged yesterday are suspected of links to Daillet.
An anti-terrorist judge ordered the arrests as part of an investigation into a shadowy group known as “Honneur et nation” (Honour and nation).
As part of the probe, three people were charged in May and five others last month.
The suspects, 12 in total, are suspected of plotting a series of attacks, including against vaccination centres, a masonic lodge, prominent people and journalists, according to sources close to the case.
The team had “a multitude of violent actions planned, targeting institutional sites, vaccination centres, 5G antennas…,” one source familiar with the case said on Tuesday.
Another source yesterday said the suspects had “the idea of a coup d’etat, of an overthrow of the French government”.
Lawyers for the four men charged yesterday declined to comment.
The four, aged between 43 and 69 and including two former soldiers, were held for questioning on Tuesday.
The kidnapped girl, identified only by her first name Mia, was taken in mid-April from the home in eastern France of her grandmother, her legal guardian, by several men employed by Mia’s mother.
She was found a few days later in a squat in Switzerland, in the care of her mother who had lost custody of her, and returned to her grandmother.
Investigators believe the abduction may have been organised by extremists led by Daillet who believe that children in care are unfairly taken from their parents. — AFP