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Nine acquitted, four convicted over far-right plot to attack Macron

At the end of a four-week trial, a Paris court has acquitted nine out of a far-right group of 13 men and women aged between 26 and 66 accused of plotting a knife attack against President Emmanuel Macron in 2018.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

A French court on Friday found three members of a far-right group guilty of conspiring to prepare an act of terrorism against President Emmanuel Macron in 2018, reports FRANCE 24.

The Paris criminal court handed the three men sentences ranging from three to four years in jail, with one to two years suspended each, saying it found a causal link between preparations they were involved in and the violent project to kill the French president.

Prosecutors have said members of the group planned to attack the president with a knife during a World War One memorial ceremony in eastern France in November 2018. They were also suspected of plotting attacks against mosques and migrants.

Charges against a fourth man were reduced to acquisition, possession and handover of weapons, for which he was found guilty and given a six-month suspended sentence.

Eight others were acquitted despite being involved in preparations, because the causal link couldn't be proved, a judge told the court.

One last man was acquitted as the court found he only thought he was getting involved in survival training.

Read more of this Reuters report published by FRANCE 24.