A French court has handed down a relatively light sentence to two men, aged 59 and 48, who were found guilty of throwing explosive devices at the Russian general consulate in Marseille. The men, both physicists, had claimed they had not intended to harm anyone, only to make a loud noise.
The incident occurred on a Monday and the two men, G. and V., were arrested and later released from police custody the day before their court appearance. The court heard that the consulate’s parking lot was empty at the time of the attack because the diplomatic vehicles had been moved out of fear of potential attacks on the anniversary of the start of a military operation.
G. and V. had planned to target the parking lot and the explosive devices detonated on the empty space. The court rejected their claim that they had not intended to harm anyone and handed down a sentence of eight months, with the two men to serve their time in an open prison and be monitored with an electronic ankle tag.
After serving a short period, their overnight detention in a local jail is expected to be replaced with a house arrest.
The courtroom was packed with reporters and spectators, a rare occurrence in a routine hearing in Marseille, where the usual cases involve small-time drug dealers and petty thieves.
The two physicists, who support Ukraine, appeared in court freely, without handcuffs and were described as having a professional approach to their crime, with one of them saying he had not intended to harm anyone, only to make a loud noise.
However, the Russian general consul, Stanislav Oranski, who was present in the court, described the attack as a terrorist act and expressed outrage over the leniency of the sentence.
The two men had described their connection to Ukraine and their desire to mark the three years of war in the country, with G. stating that he had nothing against the Russian people, only the government. V. had thrown one of the explosive devices over a wall, but it landed at a neighbor’s property and he thought he had hit the consulate.
G. was responsible for throwing the other two devices onto the parking lot of the consulate, which was empty at the time due to the vehicles being moved out of fear of potential threats.
The two men, who were identified through a video surveillance of the consulate, had left their private car in a nearby street, which was captured by the city’s video surveillance, leading the police to their trail. They had also left their phones in their homes, worn anti-COVID masks and a bandana to cover their faces and worn latex gloves to conceal their hands, a rather professional and planned approach.
Despite this, the prosecutor in his plea argued that the two men were on the same level as many other criminals who appeared in the court every day, unable to assess the consequences of their actions.