Red handprints stenciled on the Wall of the Righteous at the Shoah Memorial in Paris, May 14, 2024. MAXPPP
On Friday, October 31, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced those responsible for antisemitic graffiti on the Shoah Memorial during the night of May 13, 2024, an act considered part of Russia's campaign to destabilize France. Sentences of between two and four years in prison were handed down to four Bulgarian nationals – one of whom remains on the run – depending on whether they painted the stenciled bloodied hands, filmed the result, or organized the operation. The court determined that the vandalism was committed "because the victim belonged to a particular religion."
The ruling, which broadly followed the prosecutor's recommendations, included a permanent ban on entering French territory. The defendants, who had already spent between 12 and 15 months in preventive detention, were sent back to prison.
Although not legally enforceable – the acts took place before July 2024, when the offense of "acting on behalf of a foreign power" was created – the specter of foreign interference hung over the entire trial, the first in a series of destabilization efforts combining physical acts and online campaigns. In delivering her verdict, presiding judge Nathalie Malet stated: "There is interference that cannot be disputed and that clearly emerges from this case, a coordinated action from abroad carried out with hostile intent, aimed at stirring public opinion, exploiting existing divisions and further fracturing French society."
