Why bring all this military equipment back to France? This is the question that was asked all day Sunday to the two men arrested on Saturday evening in Paris (12th century) on their return
from Ukraine . These suspects, linked to the movement of the French ultra-right, were arrested as they got off a bus at the Bercy bus station. They were sentenced on Monday to 15 months in prison, nine of which were suspended, said the prosecution.
According to our information, they were equipped with assault rifle magazines and sighting optics. Elements of weapons obviously prohibited throughout the national territory. They were placed in police custody for violation of the legislation on weapons in the premises of the second judicial police district. At the end of the referral, the public prosecutor ordered an appearance for the two men on prior admission of guilt, the Paris prosecutor's office told us this Monday.
They were already in the crosshairs of the DGSI
These arrests were reportedly carried out during an apparently fortuitous customs check. The suspects are not unknown to the state services and in particular the General Directorate of Homeland Security. They were both the subject of a card for endangering the security of the State. One of them is an ultra-right activist who was precisely suspected of wanting to go to Ukraine. According to Mediapart, he is a former alpine hunter fired from the army following the revelation by the online media of his neo-Nazi commitment. His comrade is, meanwhile, linked to the far-right movement.
Still according to
Mediapart , the DGSI has 400 French people who have joined the Ukrainian theater of war for a year. And, out of these 400 French people, a hundred of them would have taken up arms, including around thirty known members of the ultra-right.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, French far-right movements have been opposing each other on which side to support. In Paris in particular, the former small group of the Zouaves was particularly involved in this fight. “They are longtime neo-Nazi supporters of the Ukrainian Azov Regiment,”
wrote Street Press. In December 2019,
Marc de Cacqueray-Valmenier, the leader of the dissolved small group, even made the trip to Ukraine to say hello to them.
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive, the casual West Telegram channel (close to the Zouaves) has multiplied tributes to Ukrainian fighters. Taking up the Nazi dialectic, they denounce
the Asian contingents of Soviet imperialism which are once again sweeping over Europe . Without forgetting to add a very modern Islamophobia by targeting "Putin's Islamist dogs".
A little over a year ago, far-right activist Loïk Le Priol, indicted for killing ex-Argentinian rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu in Paris, was arrested in Hungary, on the Ukrainian border
where he was about to surrender. According to the Hungarian authorities, three knives, a bulletproof vest and a helmet had been seized from his car. The former marine commando had explained that he wanted to go to Ukraine to fight.
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