Overview
- The trio was charged June 5 with religiously motivated vandalism aimed at serving a foreign power and faces up to 20 years in prison and €300,000 in fines
- Targets included the Shoah Memorial’s Wall of the Righteous, two synagogues and a Jewish community restaurant in the 4th arrondissement, plus another synagogue in the 20th arrondissement
- Authorities arrested the men in the Alpes-Maritimes on Monday as they attempted to leave France, and two have been placed in pretrial detention
- Surveillance cameras recorded several men in black spraying green paint while one filmed, and investigators are tracing their Telegram exchanges to potential co-conspirators
- The attacks follow similar anti-Semitic vandalism in 2024 and 2023 linked to Russophone operatives, fueling concerns of a broader foreign destabilization effort