Group known as Tarnac Nine cleared of sabotage plot after 10-year investigation and two-week trial

French judges have acquitted eight people accused of being part of an anarchist group that attempted to sabotage part of France’s high-speed rail network a decade ago, ruling that the group itself had been a “fiction”.

Defence lawyers had accused the government and authorities under the former rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy of wrongly claiming there was a hotbed of leftwing anarchist terrorists in a sleepy village in central France and manipulating the case in order to look tough.

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The notorious case, known as the Tarnac affair, began in November 2008 when more than a hundred French police officers swooped on the tiny rural village of Tarnac, arresting anti-capitalists who were living on a communal farm and running a village shop. In a vast media operation, the then rightwing government and French authorities alleged that the so-called Tarnac Nine were a cell of dangerous subversives intent on anarchist armed insurrection to overthrow the state.

At the time, villagers and the accused denied the charges, rights groups said the case was a misuse of anti-terrorism laws and lawyers said the case was deliberately being manipulated to make the government look tough against a supposed “enemy within”.

After 10 years of investigation — in which terrorist charges were dropped — and a three week trial, the two main accused – Julien Coupat, a business and sociology graduate, and his archeologist girlfriend, Yildune Lévy – were cleared of sabotage or belonging to any group.

“The hearing has allowed it to be demonstrated that the Tarnac group was a fiction,” the leading judge said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A police officer arrests a person on 11 November 2008 in the French village of Tarnac. Photograph: Thierry Zoccolan/AFP/Getty Images

Coupat and Lévy were found guilty of refusing to consent to a biological DNA test, but weren’t given a sentence. Of eight defendants — five men and three women, aged between 31 and 43 — the rest were also cleared of belonging to a subversive group. But one was convicted of handling stolen goods and attempting to falsify administrative documents.

“This is a humiliation for the anti-terrorism services of the time, for the magistrate who instructed the case, as well as for the anti-terrorist prosecutor,” said the lawyer Jérémie Assous, who defended several of those acquitted.

It emerged during the investigation that a former British police spy had infiltrated the group and made claims against them. French authorities did not pursue charges on those elements and Coupat had described the spy as “insignificant”. </s> "If there is one lesson to learn from this case, it is that the political exploitation of the legal system must end," lawyer Marie Dosé commented the day after client was declared not guilty in a case that started 10 years ago with 150 masked police officers raiding a libertarian commune in rural France.

The interior minister at the time, Michèle Alliot-Marie, claimed that an "ultraleft, anarcho-autonomous movement linked to sabotage" had been broken up and public prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin described the farmhouse's residents as "an invisible cell ... whose aim was armed struggle".

But on Thursday presiding magistrate Corinne Goetzmann declared the "Tarnac group, named after the village where they lived, a "fiction" and slammed police for "ruses and stratagems" in their attempts to obtain guilty verdicts against the eight accused.

In 2017 a court had already ordered the accusation of terrorism to be dropped.

This week Goetzman cleared the alleged ringleaders, Dosé's client Yildune Lévy and her former partner Julien Coupat, of accusations that they had sabotaged a railway line near Paris, only finding them guilty of refusing to give DNA samples and refusing to punish them even for that.

Five other accused, Elsa Hauck, Bertrand Deveaud, Manon Glibert, Benjamin Rosoux and Mathieu Burnel, were cleared of all charges, while a sixth, Christophe Becker, was given a four-month suspended sentence for receiving stolen documents and trying to falsify administrative documents and a 500-euro suspended fine for refusing to give a DNA sample.

Only Lévy and Deveaud were present in court for the verdict.

"We are white, young, of middle-class origin, with cultural capital," Lévy commented. "People with different first names, the Mamadoue, the Fatimas, how can they overcome what we have overcome?" </s> TORONTO — Ontario’s highest court has ordered a new trial for two men found guilty of terrorism charges in connection with a plot to derail a passenger train.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario says the jury that convicted Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier was improperly selected, which means its verdict cannot stand.

Jaser and Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2023.

Lawyers for Jaser argued the trial judge mistakenly rejected their client’s request regarding the method of jury selection.

The lawyer appointed to assist Esseghaier — who continues to be self-represented — agreed in written arguments that a new trial must be ordered on that ground.

The law regarding jury selection was in flux during the trial but the appeal court says the approach used by the judge has since been deemed wrong.

Several other cases have been overturned due to similar errors in recent years.

Jaser had also raised other grounds for appeal but the jury issue was heard first.

Both men also previously indicated they wished to challenge their sentences, but the call for a new trial makes that unnecessary.
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• ‘Delusional’ Via Rail plotter now on anti-psychotics, plans appeal </s> The Ontario appeals court has thrown out the convictions of two men sentenced to life over an alleged al-Qaida-linked plot to attack a Toronto-bound passenger train.

In a decision released Tuesday, the court ordered a new trial for Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, who were arrested by the RCMP in 2013 and found guilty of terrorism in 2015.

The appeals court set aside their convictions in a unanimous ruling that said “a legal error by the trial judge” had deprived Jaser of his preferred method for selecting jurors.

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The pair were arrested following Project Smooth, an RCMP national security investigation that began in 2012 and involved an undercover FBI informant who infiltrated the alleged plot.

Esseghaier is a Tunisian who came to Canada in 2008 and was a doctoral student in Quebec. He had allegedly travelled to Iran and received “direction and guidance” from al-Qaida “elements,” police alleged.

Jaser is a former Markham, Ont., school van driver and mover from Abu Dhabi. A Toronto Muslim leader said Jaser’s father had approached him about his son’s religious views.

The appeal centred on the difference between static and rotating “triers” — those who decide whether to accept a challenge by either the Crown or defence to a potential juror.

Rotating triers are two people who will serve on the jury, and they change (rotate) as each additional jury member is sworn in, according to Canada’s Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, static triers are two people, usually appointed by a judge, who hear and determine all challenges until the entire jury has been selected, but who do not themselves become members of the jury.

READ MORE: 2 men found guilty in Via Rail terror plot asking for new trial, argue jury improperly selected

Leah West, a national security law expert at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, said rotating triers are now the standard because there is a greater risk of bias with static triers.

“Two people have a huge impact on how the jury gets made up,” she said.

Following the appeal decision in their favor, Jaser and Esseghaier can apply to be released on bail, she said.

As recently as December, the case was cited by the government as a successful disruption of a terrorist attack, as well as an example of the ongoing interest in targeting trains and rail infrastructure.

“The trial judge’s error here took one of the three options, the exclusion of unsworn jurors while using rotating triers, away from Jaser,” the three justices wrote in their decision.

Other high-profile cases have been overturned due to similar errors, including that of a man convicted of 2nd-degree murder in a 2012 shooting at Toronto’s Eaton Centre.

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“Fair jury selection is especially important in cases like this with saturation level publicity,” said Megan Savard, an appeal lawyer for Jaser.

Savard said the fundamental difference between rotating triers and static triers was that a jury selected by rotating triers is chosen by a larger group of people, resulting in a more impartial jury.

Jaser had wanted rotating triers during jury selection but did not get them, she said. “Mr. Jaser has been in jail since his arrest in 2013 waiting for a fair trial in front of jury chosen legally.” </s> TORONTO -- Two men found guilty of terrorism charges in connection with a plot to derail a passenger train between Canada and the U.S. were granted a new trial Tuesday after Ontario's highest court found the jury that convicted them was improperly selected.

Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2023.

The two challenged their convictions, and lawyers for Jaser argued the trial judge mistakenly rejected their client's request regarding the method of jury selection.

The lawyer appointed to assist Esseghaier -- who continues to be self-represented -- agreed in written arguments that a new trial had to be ordered on that ground.

The law regarding jury selection was in flux during the trial but the appeal court said in its ruling that the approach used by the judge has since been deemed wrong. Several other cases have been overturned due to similar errors in recent years.

Though Esseghaier, who largely chose not to participate in the trial proceedings, had not expressed a preference as to jury selection, he should receive a new trial, the appeal court said Tuesday.

"Here, one jury was selected for both appellants. In the circumstances of this case, as the jury was not properly constituted for Jaser, it cannot be considered to have been properly constituted for Esseghaier," the court said in a unanimous decision.

Jaser had also raised other grounds for appeal but the jury issue was heard first. Both men also previously indicated they wished to challenge their sentences, but the call for a new trial makes that unnecessary.

The pair was arrested in April 2013 after a months-long investigation that involved an undercover FBI agent who gained their trust and secretly recorded hours of their conversations.

The two were recorded speaking about terror plots they would conduct in retaliation for Canada's military actions in Muslim countries, including the derailment of a Via Rail train travelling between New York and Toronto.

Those recordings made up the bulk of the evidence in the case. </s> TORONTO — Two men found guilty of terrorism charges in connection with a plot to derail a passenger train between Canada and the U.S. were granted a new trial Tuesday after Ontario’s highest court found the jury that convicted them was improperly selected.

Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were found guilty in 2015 on a total of eight terror-related charges between them. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2023.

The two challenged their convictions, and lawyers for Jaser argued the trial judge mistakenly rejected their client’s request regarding the method of jury selection. The lawyer appointed to assist Esseghaier — who continues to be self-represented — agreed in written arguments that a new trial had to be ordered on that ground.

Ontario’s Court of Appeal said the trial judge had made an error in denying Jaser his preferred method of jury selection.

“The question here is not actual prejudice, which in these kinds of circumstances is impossible to gauge, but prejudice to the due administration of justice flowing from the denial of a jury selection method which was in law properly invoked,” it wrote.

As part of the jury selection process, prospective jurors may face questions regarding their ability to remain impartial.

Given the nature of the accusations against Jaser and Esseghaier, and the significant media attention leading up to the trial, this questioning was deemed necessary in this case, the appeal court said.

Prospective jurors were to be asked whether their ability to weigh the case based on the evidence would be affected by the fact that both accused are members of a visible minority and Muslim.

During this questioning, two people from the jury pool are given the role of “triers,” which means they consider the answer and determine whether there is sign of bias. Lawyers for both the Crown and the defence then decide whether to allow the person on the jury.

In a process called “rotating triers” — which is the default method — each newly appointed juror replaces one of the two triers so that the responsibility is shared.

While not laid out in the Criminal Code, common law granted the court the discretion to exclude from the room all other prospective jurors during this process or both prospective jurors and those already selected who were not currently acting as triers.

An alternative process known as “static triers” was created in the Criminal Code in 2008, allowing the accused to ask the court to exclude prospective and selected jurors during the questioning, as long as they could show it was necessary to ensure the jury remained impartial. If the court agreed, it would then choose two people — the static triers — to assess all the prospective jurors. Static triers do not get to serve on the jury.

Jaser had requested to have the jury chosen by rotating triers with any prospective jurors excluded from the room, but the trial judge said he no longer had the discretion to make that order, according to court documents.

What’s more, the judge said he would not have granted Jaser’s request even if he could, since the issue could be remedied by using static triers, which he then imposed even though Jaser had not formally applied to use them, the documents said.

There was debate at the time of the trial over whether judges retained the discretion to exclude prospective and some selected jurors when using rotating triers, but it has since been determined that they do, the appeal court said.

“It was an error of law for the trial judge to refuse to exercise a discretion based on a view that a remedy not sought by Jaser would have better achieved his ends,” the appeal court said.

Though Esseghaier, who largely chose not to participate in the trial proceedings, did not weigh in on the issue of jury selection at the time, he should also receive a new trial, the appeal court said Tuesday.

“Here, one jury was selected for both appellants. In the circumstances of this case, as the jury was not properly constituted for Jaser, it cannot be considered to have been properly constituted for Esseghaier,” the court said in a unanimous decision.

Several other verdicts have been overturned due to similar errors in recent years, including a conviction on two counts of second-degree murder for Christopher Husbands, the man who opened fire at Toronto’s Eaton Centre in 2012. Husbands also underwent a new trial and was found guilty of manslaughter earlier this year.

Jaser had also raised other grounds for appeal but the jury issue was heard first. Both men also previously indicated they wished to challenge their sentences, but the call for a new trial makes that unnecessary.

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada said in a statement it will proceed with a new trial, and noted it has 60 days to decide whether to seek leave to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Jaser and Esseghaier were arrested in April 2013 after a months-long investigation that involved an undercover FBI agent who gained their trust and secretly recorded hours of their conversations.

The two were recorded speaking about terror plots they would carry out in retaliation for Canada’s military actions in Muslim countries, including the planned derailment of a Via Rail train travelling between New York and Toronto. </s> New trial ordered in alleged plot to derail Canada-US train

A Canadian appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for two men accused of plotting to derail a passenger train travelling between Toronto and New York, citing errors in the jury selection.



Tunisian national Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, a Canadian resident of Palestinian descent, were convicted in 2015 of a conspiracy to commit murders and sentenced to life in prison.

But the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the trial judge mishandled the jury selection process, resulting in an "improperly constituted jury," which means their verdict cannot stand.

Prosecutors said the pair had planned to cut a large hole in a railway bridge to derail a Via Rail train, with the aim of killing and injuring passengers and crew.

Esseghaier, who was doing doctoral research in Canada, acted on instructions from extremists, they alleged.

Key evidence came in the form of recordings by an undercover FBI agent who befriended the pair. </s> A Canadian appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for two men accused of plotting to derail a passenger train travelling between Toronto and New York, citing errors in the jury selection.

Tunisian national Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, a Canadian resident of Palestinian descent, were convicted in 2015 of an Al-Qaeda-backed conspiracy to commit murders and sentenced to life in prison.

But the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the trial judge mishandled the jury selection process, resulting in an "improperly constituted jury," which means their verdict cannot stand.

The trial heard that the pair were "motivated by Islamic extremism and had planned terrorist attacks on non-Muslim targets or victims."

The attack allegedly would have marked the start of a campaign of terror to try to convince Canada and its allies to leave Muslim lands.

Prosecutors said the pair had planned to cut a large hole in a railway bridge to derail a Via Rail train, with the aim of killing and injuring passengers and crew.

Esseghaier, who was doing doctoral research in Canada, acted on instructions from overseas extremists, they alleged.

Key evidence came in the form of recordings by an undercover FBI agent who befriended the pair. </s> Ten alleged extreme-right militants suspected of a terrorist plot to attack Muslims in France are to appear before a judge and face preliminary charges.

Nine men and one woman aged 32 to 69 – including one retired police officer – were arrested in raids across France on Saturday, in the Paris area, the Mediterranean island of Corsica and the western Charentes-Maritimes region.

Police had linked the ten to a little-known group called Action des Forces Operationnelles (Operational Forces Action), which urges French people to combat Muslims, or what it calls “the enemy within”. Rifles, handguns and homemade grenades were found during searches.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that it had asked an investigating judge to file preliminary charges.

In a statement, the prosecutor said an array of weapons and potential bomb-making equipment were found and authorities feared a violent act but “at this stage” couldn’t determine the exact targets. The group, which was seeking to expand, offered combat and survivalist training and held meetings to define its objectives and how to attain them, the prosecutor said. Some had tested homemade grenades and explosives.

The “Guerre de France” (War for France) website of the shadowy Operational Forces Action group depicts an apocalyptic battle scene under the Eiffel Tower, and claims to prepare “French citizen-soldiers for combat on national territory”.

France’s TF1 television reported earlier this week that the group had allegedly planned to randomly target women wearing headscarves in the street and had also allegedly planned to hit targets linked to radical Islam.

“I’m not surprised by these arrests because the current climate of Islamophobia encourages this sort of passage from words to deeds,” said Abdallah Zekri of the French Council of the Muslim Faith after the arrests.

The Council said it was particularly worried about the security of the country’s roughly 2,500 mosques.

France registered 72 violent anti-Muslim acts last year, up from 67 in 2016.

In a statement at the time of the weekend arrests, the interior minister, Gérard Collomb, emphasised the “total mobilisation” of security services “to prevent any disturbance to public order and any threat to people and property, especially those targeting a particular religion.”
French judges clear the Tarnac Nine, accused of performing an anarchist terror sabotage in a controversial trial, of wrongdoing and describe the existence of a terror group as a "fiction". Defence lawyers had accused ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy's government of misusing counterterror law.