Paris Trial Begins For 8 Accused of Plotting Masonic Lodge Attack

by Christopher Hodapp

A trial opened this week in France against 8 defendants accused of a neo-Nazi terrorist plot to attack a Masonic lodge back in 2020-21.

Translated from the French website Notretemps.com:

The trial of eight people, suspected of a violent action project against a Masonic lodge between 2020 and 2021 and some of whom were linked to the conspiracy theorist Rémy Daillet, opened on Tuesday before the Paris Criminal Court.

Seven men and one woman, aged 28 to 69, are on trial for terrorist criminal association. One of them is in the United States, and is represented by his lawyer and will therefore not appear in court.

All appear free.

They are suspected of having wanted to commit a violent action against a Masonic lodge. While investigators have updated virtual discussions, meetings, or weapons searches as part of what has been called the "Alsace project", no specific scenario has been established.

The investigations began in February 2021, around the neo-Nazi group Honneur and Nation, whose members were linked to Rémy Daillet, a conspiracy figure, a one-time expatriate in Malaysia.

At the end of the investigation, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office put him ouey had planned a t of the question, considering that his "role" in this project seemed "indirect and residual". On the other hand, he is indicted in two other parts of this file still under investigation, that of the "Azur project", presented as a project to "overthrow the government" in the fall of 2020...

First to be questioned, Sébastien Dudognon, former head of the National Youth Front in Corrèze who had founded the Revolutionary Nationalist Division (DNR), a neo-Nazi group that then gave way to the Honor and Nation group.

Details of the alleged plot are not revealed in the article, but a story on the Marianne website from 2021 concerning the arrest of co-defendant Thibaut Rufra revealed that the lodge was located in the town of Moselle, and they had planned an attack on France's health minister, as well (this was during the Covid year). 

According to a source close to the investigation, quoted by Agence France Presse back in 2021, they also cited other non-specific targets such as vaccination centers, high-profile celebrities, and journalists. Several in the group were allegedly attempting to manufacture explosives for their planned attacks. The arrests occurred before any of the attacks could be carried out.