PARIS – A French court sentenced four men to prison terms ranging from five to fifteen years for preparing an attack on Paris’s iconic Champs Elysees promenade.
A fifth walked free because he had already served his sentence in pre-trial detention.
The five accused were arrested in 2019 for allegedly plotting to attack police officers and maybe civilians on the avenue near the presidential palace.
On Thursday, everyone except one were found guilty of “terrorist conspiracy” after a closed-door trial.
The five accused were arrested in 2019 for allegedly plotting to attack police officers and maybe civilians on the avenue near the presidential palace.
The oldest member of the group received a 15-year prison sentence, while the second received a 12-year sentence.
A third person, who was a minor at the time of his arrest but was considered the group’s leader, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
He was caught in Germany in 2017 at the age of 15 for attempting to join Daesh in war-torn Syria.
Investigators believe he intended to ambush a police patrol near the Champs Elysees and “commit a massacre.”
A fourth person, a Chechen minor at the time, was sentenced to five years in prison for failing to speak out about the scheme.
A fifth was sentenced to five years in prison, with 18 months suspended, for financing the conspiracy, but was released since he had already served that time in pre-trial detention.
