Polyglot and undercartinity, the main accused, Clément Baur, has pretended to be a Chechen for years, before being arrested in Marseille in possession of a war arsenal. It was during a stay in prison that he had met his future accomplice. Ten other people appear with them from Thursday in front of the Paris Special Assize Court.
by soren seelow
The net, five days before the first round of the April 2017 presidential election, had raised fears of an attack on the electoral process. After several days of hunting, investigators from the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI) had managed to locate a hideout in Marseille occupied by two young men suspected of preparing a terrorist operation.
On April 18, 2017, the police burst, with the support of the raid, in this small apartment of the 3 e arrondissement and arrested the two suspects: Clément Baur, 23, and Mahiedine Merabet, 29, who are tried, from Thursday, January 5, in front of the Assize Court specially composed of Paris.
Six days before their arrest, the two men had themselves precipitated their fall by sending a video, on the secure messaging telegram, to what they thought to be jihadists in Syria so that their action is claimed by the Islamic State Organization (IS). They had filmed an evocative composition there -the words “the law of the talion” written with 9 mm caliber ammunition -, a flag of IS, a Koran, a pistol -meter Uzi and the “one” of the world of 16 March 2017 devoted to the electoral campaign, illustrated by a photo of the candidate of the Les Républicains party, François Fillon.
What the two companions were unaware of is that their interlocutors were infiltrated investigators from the DGSI, whose service had been alerted a few days earlier by a foreign partner in an imminent attack project. Upon viewing of the video by the cyberpatrusable, the Ministry of the Interior had alerted several presidential candidates and strengthened the security of the electoral meetings, while the investigators deployed significant technical means to locate the two jihadists.
“Meeting Le Pen Marseille”
When they enter the small Marseille apartment on April 18, 2017, the police saw their confirmed fears. The walls are covered with photos of children who died in Syria, one way, will explain to them Mahiedine Merabet, to “do not forget” the spring of their commitment. Investigators mainly put their hands on four firearms, including a Uzi gunshot, 3.5 kilos of TATP (an artisanal explosive) drying, including a ready-to-use brochure equipped with a wick of ignition, bolts, jihadist propaganda and a GoPro camera equipped with a harness.
In a phone, they exhus several research on the internet a few days before the thread, which can all be similar to potential targets in Marseille: “Libertine club”, “FN bar”, “Russian bar”, ” Israeli bar “,” American bar “, as well as the names of a libertine sauna, a kosher restaurant, a pub or even a city rum bar. Among the most recent research are “Meeting Le Pen Marseille”, “FN federations” and online exploration of bars retransmitting football matches.
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