An alleged "anarchist cell" at the centre of one of France's most politically-charged legal sagas is finally to be tried for sabotaging high-speed train lines, reports Yahoo! News.
But in a major blow to police, who conducted a seven-year investigation into the group, the four will not face terror charges, judicial sources told AFP on Saturday.
The so-called Tarnac group was rounded up in high-publicised raids in November 2008 accused of sabotaging the TGV network around Paris, a powerful symbol of French national pride and technical know-how.
Thousands of passengers and more than 160 train services were delayed after steel rods were put across overhead power cables on three high-speed lines between Paris and London, Brussels and the French regions.
Then interior minister Michèle Alliot-Marie branded the group a dangerous "ultra-left anarchist movement", but the group -- who lived in a rural commune in central France -- and many on the French left, accused President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing government of trying to frame them.
But in a major blow to the authorities, anti-terrorist judge Jeanne Duye came down against their demands in her long-awaited judgement Friday to try them for terror offences.