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Court sentences 4 men to prison for 2004 mosque burning in French Alps
What's interesting is that when I first heard about the opening of the trial on teevee, it was just after an another segment in which CGT (paleo-commies union) thugs were on trial for having torched the regional HQ of the MEDEF (corporate CEO union)... and the asked sentences were suspended 4 months, all this while 4000 CGTinistas demonstrated outside, clamoring "justice shouldn't criminalize union actions" (because torching buildings during riots, excuse me, demonstrations, is a legitimate union tool, of course).SEVRIER, France: A court on Friday convicted three former soldiers and a soccer hooligan of fire-bombing a mosque and a Muslim prayer hall in the French Alps two years ago. The criminal court in the town of Sevrier, a suburb of eastern Annecy, handed down sentences of up to five years in prison for the four men, who are suspected of having ties to far-right groups. The men, all in their 20s, were convicted on charges of religiously motivated attacks that seriously damaged an Annecy mosque in March 2004 as well as a makeshift prayer hall in a garage in the Annecy suburb of Seynod. At the time, President Jacques Chirac condemned the attacks as "odious acts," and hundreds of people held a silent vigil in protest. Michel Guegan, a 25-year-old former soldier in France's elite Alpine unit who is now homeless, was given a five-year prison sentence for his role as the alleged ringleader. Nicolas Paz, 29, a former hooligan in a Paris Saint-Germain fan club, was also sentenced to five years in jail, with one year suspended. Anthony Savino, 24, another former soldier, was given five years, with two of them suspended. The fourth man, Damien Gallaud, 25, considered a "consenting follower," received a three-year sentence with two years suspended. A fifth man, 23-year-old former soldier Bruno Abello, received an eight-month suspended sentence for helping to cover up the crime. Before the ruling, the four main suspects expressed their regrets to the Muslim community. The sentences were lighter than that sought by Prosecutor Herve Lhomme, who had asked the court to send a "strong signal toward all havens of intolerance" with prison sentences of up to nine years. Btw, torched mosque was NOT a "real" mosque, it was a technical local of some sort, and was... under salafist control. Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-12-11 |
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