Four men were sentenced in France on Friday to prison terms ranging from one to 18 years for preparing terrorist attacks in 2018. Alexandre Gilet, 27, a former gendarmewas sentenced to eighteen years in prison by a court in Paris, it is reported French media. A fifth suspect, the youngest of the group, was already tried separately at the end of last year in a juvenile court, which imposed a two-year probation on him.
According to the court, the suspects belong to a neo-Nazi group. Gilet possessed weapons and explosives and was the “undisputed” leader of the group, the president of the court said at the hearing of the court in Paris. The court president said the defendants were part of “a group that adhered unreservedly to fascism and supremacism.”
Gilet and his accomplices wanted to carry out far-right attacks in Paris in 2018. They previously acknowledged having had racist ideas, but stated that they never really wanted to carry out attacks. During the hearing, de Gilet had asked the court to “distinguish between the person I was in 2018 and the person I am today”. The court disagrees and states that the group did have concrete plans to carry out the attacks.
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