Was he ready to follow through on his plan, or had he just written it down before finally giving it up? A 21-year-old young man is due to appear from this Tuesday before the Paris Assize Court, competent for terrorism cases, for having planned an attack at Roazhon Park, the den of Stade Rennais. Aged 17 at the time of the events, the high school student, born in Morlaix, was arrested on January 16, 2018 at his mother’s home in Rennes.
For several weeks, the DGSI had placed him under surveillance because of his sustained activity on social networks. Exchanging a lot with individuals belonging to the jihadist movement on the encrypted Telegram messaging, the young man also relayed texts and videos of propaganda from the Islamic State or Jabhat Al-Nosra. He had also expressed his inclinations to leave for Syria, promising to commit violent action if he did not manage to reach the country. “November 13, but better,” he wrote in a message sent to Telegram.
A list of weapons and the number of potential victims on a piece of paper
During the searches, investigators got their hands on a hand-drawn map, with the location of Roazhon Park as well as L’Équipe bar and Carrefour City located nearby. A list of weapons as well as the number of potential victims had also been noted on this piece of paper. The macabre scenario he had imagined called for a team of ten attackers armed with guns or knives to kill as many people as possible. Aerial photographs of Roazhon Park and stadium access plans had also been found on his computer’s hard drive, as well as documents to “make a bomb in your mother’s kitchen” or carry out a targeted attack.
During the hearings, the young man, who had converted to Islam a year earlier, admitted to having imagined this project during the first quarter of 2017 before finally giving it up. “It was only a project thought out on paper that he very quickly abandoned,” says Jean-Guillaume Le Mintier. There has never been the slightest preparatory act or start of execution of this project. “
A young person “in search of identity and recognition”
The lawyer highlights the profile of his client, a withdrawn young man who never knew his father and was raised alone by his mother. “At the time of the facts, he was in a quest for identity and recognition and he found in this cause a way to exist”, he affirms, adding that the young man, passed by an evaluation district radicalization, has today “evolved positively”.
Until Friday, he will appear in the box with a co-accused, also 21 years old. Originally from La Manche, the latter is also accused of criminal conspiracy with a view to preparing an act of terrorism. They both face up to twenty years in prison.