Overview

• Prosecutors requested prison terms up to five years with electronic monitoring for top leaders, plus 15-year firearms bans and listings in France’s terrorism registry.
• The court discharged two members after prosecutors deemed evidence against them too weak to secure convictions.
• AFO was a hierarchical cell of 13 men and three women formed in 2017–18 to plan violent assaults on symbolic Islamic sites.
• Prosecutors said the group’s ideology was rooted in fear of Islamic “penetration,” spurred by France’s 2015–16 terror attacks.
• Defense pleadings are set for Friday, with defendants expected to argue their threats were idle talk rather than genuine plots.