Paris: Four men were given prison terms ranging from five to fifteen years by a French court for preparing an attack on Paris' famous Champs Elysees avenue. A fifth was let go because he had already completed his sentence in pretrial detention.
The five defendants, who ranged in age from 17 to 39, were detained in 2019 on suspicion of plotting to attack police officers and perhaps civilians on an avenue close to the presidential palace. After a trial that was conducted in secret, all but one were found guilty of "terrorist conspiracy" on Thursday.
The oldest member of the group received a 15-year prison term, while the second received a 12-year sentence. A third person, who was a minor when he was arrested but was thought to be the group's leader, was also given a 12-year prison sentence.
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He had been detained in Germany in 2017 when he was only 15 years old for attempting to travel to war-torn Syria and join Daesh. According to investigators, he intended to "commit a massacre" by attacking a police patrol at the Champs Elysees entrance.
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A fourth person, a Chechen who was at the time a minor, received a five-year sentence for remaining silent regarding the plan.
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A fifth was found guilty of financing the plot and given a sentence of five years in prison, 18 months of which were suspended, but was released early because he had already served that time in pre-trial detention.