A five-page letter, signed by Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, around a single theme: putting in place an action plan against the terrorist threat represented by radicalized people with a view to the Paris Olympic Games. The document, sent Monday to the prefects as well as to the bosses of the national police, the gendarmerie, the DGSI and intelligence, looks at ways of combating “the risk of increased mobilization of the Islamist and jihadist movement” in the occasion of the Olympics.
“The scale of the event and its media overexposure could have a galvanizing effect on certain radical profiles,” warns the tenant of Place Beauvau who calls for “reinforced vigilance” and “full mobilization” of the various services of internal security. And names the targets of its “obstruction strategy”: people registered in the file for processing reports for the prevention of radicalization of a terrorist nature (FSPRT). There are around 5,000 of them, two-thirds French.
“The ambition is to exercise increased security monitoring of them, to limit their nuisance capacities, by keeping them at a distance from events and to neutralize the threat they could pose,” underlines the text. “The most sensitive profiles”: those leaving prison, foreigners and radicalized young people. Among this last category, at the end of April, a 16-year-old teenager who wanted to “die as a martyr” during the Games was indicted. Other violent extremists, except those monitored for terrorism, are not affected by this strategy.
Use “offenses unrelated to terrorist themes”
How to do ? The letter lists the possibilities available to law enforcement to put pressure on those concerned. The opening of judicial investigations in the event of a suspected terrorist offence, headed by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), but also for acts of common law, such as the apology of terrorism, provocation to acts of terrorism or offenses against weapons laws. Gérald Darmanin thus calls on the police to report “offences unrelated to terrorist themes” to the relevant public prosecutor’s office, if for example the radicalized person is involved in drug trafficking or in possession of child pornography images.
Islamist terrorist prisoners released from prison as part of a sentence adjustment will also be “subject to particularly rigorous monitoring”. If one of them does not respect these obligations, such as non-compliance with the perimeter imposed by an electronic bracelet, a report will be made to the PNAT, which may refer the matter to the competent judge to request the person’s reincarceration.
But if the legal route, which is more cumbersome to put in place, is not possible to deploy, the prefects are encouraged to increase the number of administrative measures. To both monitor people present in France and prevent the entry of radicalized people into the territory.
Increase in home visits
“The home visit must be very widely mobilized,” underlines Gérald Darmanin, who conveyed the message to the prefects during a videoconference organized Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. Understand that the police and gendarmes will increase the number of checks on people registered with the FSPRT. In a department in the outer suburbs that we have contacted, this concerns around 150 people.
“In general, we only do them for borderline cases, when we have marbles, explains a prefect from Ile-de-France. There, the approach seems more preventive to me. » Some prefects had already increased the frequency of visits even before Gérald Darmanin’s note, targeting in particular radicalized young people.
These home visits may, if necessary, make it possible to launch legal proceedings or provide elements to put in place individual administrative control and surveillance measures (Micas). For example, these require the people targeted to report to the police station every day. It will be “systematically offered” to monitor former prisoners convicted of terrorism or radicalized or for anyone “carrying a particularly serious threat to public security and order”.
The idea: “Restrict your travel options or your people during the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games”. Micas may, in addition to their daily visit to the police, prohibit them from going to certain areas, namely those of the Olympic sites.
Finally, particular attention will be paid to radicalized foreign people registered with the FSPRT. Those installed in France “must be subject to a new examination with a view to removal measures”. The prefects are called upon to put in place OQTFs (obligations to leave French territory) “as soon as an irregularity is noted”. For radicalized people living abroad, around a third of the members of the file, the authorities will put in place administrative bans on the territory.
“This telegram puts pressure on the entire processing chain: the prefects, but also and above all the national and local intelligence services who must propose almost systematic measures for each case” explains a prefect of Ile-de-France. of France. “The emphasis has been placed on these points for several weeks, but this is set in stone and indicates to everyone the procedure to follow,” notes one of his counterparts from the south of France. “We’re going to the next level with these measures,” says one of his colleagues. A new brick in the Olympic security arsenal.
