Michel D., 76 years old, and Perrine R., 61 years old, building trainer, must answer, from 1:30 p.m. before the 14th chamber of the judicial court, to charges of criminal association and manufacture and possession without authorization of explosive devices.
The affair broke out twenty years ago when a group called “AZF” – named after the chemical factory destroyed by an accidental explosion in Toulouse on September 21, 2001 – claimed to have buried
“a series of bombs”
under the ballast railway tracks and promised to blow them up unless the State paid a ransom of 4 to 8 million euros.
The threats had been taken very seriously at the Élysée and the Ministry of the Interior, who had received between December 2003 and March 2004 nine letters signed "AZF", a hitherto unknown acronym presenting itself as a "pressure
group to terrorist character secretly created within a secular brotherhood with ethical and political specificity
.
Two bombs found
The affair was also marked by the incredible correspondence, via the “Personal Messages” section of the daily
Libération
, between “Mon gros loup” (AZF) and “Suzy” (police) in order to organize the drop like a treasure hunt. ransom by helicopter.
On the group's instructions, the authorities found on February 21, 2004 a first bomb -
"sophisticated"
and in working order - on the Paris-Toulouse line near Folles (Haute-Vienne).
A second bomb was discovered accidentally by an SNCF agent on March 24, 2004 in Aube, on the Paris-Troyes-Basel route.
The next day, “AZF” announced by letter to the authorities the suspension of its action, specifying:
“No hard feelings and see you soon”
.
Denunciation
The case could have been forgotten without the denunciation, in September 2017, of a relative of Perrine R. and Michel D. Arrested in June 2018, they immediately recognized the facts but denied having sought to establish “
terror”
in the country, having never wished to give publicity to their threats.
Defining himself as
"a bit of an inventor"
, the former business manager explained to investigators that the ransom was to be used to create
"operational prototypes for the production and use of new, non-polluting and unlimited energies"
.
The two defendants, under judicial supervision, appear free.
Their trial is scheduled until Friday.