Two men charged over synagogue arson attack in France
Two suspects involved in an arson attack on a synagogue near the seaside resort of La Grande Motte in southern France last week were charged late Wednesday and will stay in custody, prosecutors said. The main suspect expressed deep hatred of Jews and said he had acted “in support of the Palestinian cause", according to prosecutors.
Two suspects involved in an attack on a synagogue in southern France at the weekend were charged late Wednesday and remain in custody, Paris anti-terror prosecutors said.
The charges come after two cars were set alight in a car park under a synagogue near the seaside resort of La Grande Motte, causing an explosion just 30 minutes before its Saturday service and injuring a police officer.
The main suspect, a 33-year-old Algerian identified as "EHK", was charged with attempted terrorist murder committed on the grounds of race or religion and for criminal terrorism association, according to France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT).
A legal resident in France, EHK was not known to police.
In a statement, PNAT said that suspect EHK was "radicalised in the practice of his religion over several months" and had long harboured "a hate for Jews, particularly focused on the situation in Palestine".
"He had admitted to the facts in the first hearing" and "explained that he acted in support of the Palestinian cause, denying any homicidal intent but conceding to have had intended to cause fear", the public prosecutor said.
(AFP)
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