The Paris prosecutor says two {couples} who allegedly stenciled dozens of blue Stars of David on buildings in Paris and two of its suburbs are linked by a 3rd occasion residing overseas
ByThe Related Press
November 7, 2023, 2:44 PM
PARIS — Two {couples} who allegedly stenciled dozens of blue Stars of David on buildings in Paris and two of its suburbs final week are linked by a 3rd occasion residing overseas, the Paris prosecutor mentioned Tuesday. The hyperlink was primarily based on a phone dialog by one couple in Russian, a press release mentioned.
“At this stage, it’s not excluded that the markings of the blue Stars of David within the Paris area had been made on the specific demand of an individual residing overseas,” prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned. An investigating choose was taking on the case, “as a lot to determine the authors as to investigate the intentions that guided the operation.”
The battle between Israel and Hamas has led to not less than 1,040 recognized acts of antisemitism in France, the inside minister mentioned Sunday. However the prosecutor’s workplace investigating the looks of 60 blue stars, just like these on the Israeli flag, has but to conclude whether or not those that put up the stencils had antisemitic intent, Tuesday’s assertion mentioned.
Surveillance video confirmed a person and a girl marking buildings, with a 3rd individual photographing them, on partitions in Paris and the suburbs of Seine Saint Denis and Hauts de Seine, the assertion mentioned. The couple fled France the next day.
The assertion mentioned that 4 days earlier, a separate couple from Moldova and missing correct papers to stay in France was detained after being seen stenciling a star on a Paris constructing, then held for expulsion from the nation.
“They declared performing below orders from a 3rd individual and for remuneration,” the prosecutor’s assertion mentioned, including that an examination of their phone revealed a dialog in Russian confirming the declare. Many Moldovans converse Russian.
“Phone investigation permits us to suppose that the 2 {couples} … had been in relation with the identical third individual,” or occasion, the assertion mentioned.
It didn’t point out whether or not the nationality of the third occasion was recognized.