Trial opens for 20 in suspected French terror cell that targeted Jewish grocery

PARIS – Twenty members of a suspected jihadist network thought to have been behind a grenade attack on a Jewish grocery store in 2012 go on trial before a special anti-terror tribunal in Paris Thursday.

The “Cannes-Torcy cell,” named for the towns where its members were based, is suspected of having planned several other attacks, and was considered the most dangerous to threaten the country when it was dismantled in 2012.

The trial opens as France is grappling with fresh fears of jihadist terror attacks, with the police arresting two men Tuesday suspected of plotting an assault just days before a presidential election. Analysts say the Cannes-Torcy network signaled a historic shift in France’s struggle against terrorism, to battling mass attacks by Islamic radicals inspired, or even guided, by foreigners.

A Paris courthouse, with its bulletproof dock, prior to the start of the trial of a jihadist cell known as the “Cannes-Torcy cell,” long considered one of the most dangerous in France, whose members targeted police and military installations as well as a Jewish grocery in 2012, on April 20, 2017. (Jacques Demarthon/AFP)

Aged 23 to 33, the cell’s members are accused of plotting to stage several attacks on military and civilian targets, and of seeking to join jihadist ranks in Syria. Police arrested two members of the network while investigating a grenade attack on a Jewish grocery in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles in September 2012.

Two masked men threw a grenade into the shop, injuring one person, but the fact that it rolled under a trolley prevented more casualties.

The trial is expected to run until July 7, with most of the accused facing terms of 30 years to life in prison.

— AFP