Four men go on trial in Paris accused of conspiring to plot neo-Nazi attacks

Four men are going on trial in Paris accused of conspiring as a neo-Nazi terrorist group to plan attacks on mosques and Jewish targets in France in 2017 and 2018.

An investigation was opened in 2018 after Alexandre Gilet, a 22-year-old volunteer deputy gendarme in Grenoble, allegedly ordered products that could be used in explosive devices. The manager of a fireworks shop found his order suspicious and contacted police.

A search of the man’s home found “regularly used” weapons, including two Kalashnikov assault rifles, and laboratory equipment.

Prosecutors say he and the three other accused were part of an ultra-right, neo-Nazi private online discussion forum called “Operation WaffenKraft”, where discussion “very quickly turned to the preparation of terrorist projects”. The Waffen-SS was the military branch of the Nazis’ elite SS corps, which was founded by Adolf Hitler.

Read more: The Guardian (UK)