Australia nuclear plant plot trial opens in Paris
Source: Reuters
(Recasts with quotes, defence lawyers, details) By Jon Boyle PARIS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A French Muslim convert suspected of plotting to attack an Australian nuclear power station protested his innocence on Wednesday and said he had no faith in French justice. Prosecutors say Willy Brigitte and Sajid Mir, his co-accused who is being tried in absentia, considered targeting a nuclear research reactor on the outskirts of Sydney. Brigitte, 38, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of associating with criminals involved in terrorist activities, told the main Paris criminal court that French investigators had produced a biased case against him. "I have no confidence in French justice, in the justice system of this country. I have lost all hope of being understood," he said, after first mumbling a prayer in Arabic. Dressed in a black roll-neck jumper and tracksuit, Brigitte refused to answer questions on the case. The court heard how Australian police, arresting Brigitte for breaching immigration rules, had found in his pocket a printout of an Internet page on Australian nuclear and military facilities. He was promptly deported back to France. But defence lawyers said Brigitte had merely gone to Australia to rebuild his life -- not to plot attacks on Australian soil on the orders of Islamic militants. "What you have heard is a report based essentially on a prosecution case strewn with untruths, inaccuracies, approximations," said Brigitte's lawyer Jean-Claude Durimel. "I think when he left for Australia he didn't even know there was a nuclear power station at Lucas Heights," a suburb of Sydney, he added. "I'M NO TERRORIST" Fellow defence counsel Harry Durimel said records from an Australian court case showed there "was no proof, no implication of Willy Brigitte in anything terrorist related at all" while in Australia. Australia's chief spy said Brigitte, born in the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe, had been "almost certainly involved" in activities aimed at harming the country. Australia has been targeted by militant Islamic groups because of its role alongside U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Brigitte said a proper investigation would have shown that "I am not a terrorist, that I never prepared, organised, or was involved in any terrorist activity whatsoever". "Terrorism is contrary to my conception (of Islam), contrary to the teaching of Islam, which teaches the respect of human life". Testimony from Brigitte's two former wives in France showed he embraced a radical form of Islam after converting in 1998 and his religious beliefs became increasingly more strident. He joined a group conducting military-style training in Fontainebleau Forest near Paris and later graduated to weapons and explosives training in camps on the Pakistan-Afghan border. Witness statements said Brigitte had expressed regret he was prevented from fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan when U.S. forces invaded after the Sept. 11, 2003 attacks. His lawyers said Brigitte had gone to Yemen, Chechnya, Kosovo and Pakistan to deepen his faith and carry out humanitarian work. The trial resumes on Thursday.
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