the Breton connections and the shadow of the Brest pharmacist still haunt

In 1994, the Order of the Solar Temple plunged the world into horror with a massacre of 74 followers. In Brittany, the sect had enrolled dozens of faithful, under the influence of the guru Luc Jouret and his occult networks

Thirty years ago, in October 1994, horror struck the Order of the Solar Temple, an apocalyptic sect whose existence the world discovered through a massacre of rare violence.

In the space of a few days, 53 followers lost their lives in atrocious conditions, in Switzerland and Quebec. In total, 74 victims were recorded between 1994 and 1997, including some in France, during what was initially described as “ritual suicide”. Among the dead: the founders of the sect, Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret.

Reminder of the facts: on the night of October 4 to 5, 1994, 48 bodies were discovered in burned chalets in Switzerland, killed by bullets or poisoned. The terror is total. Luc Jouret, the charismatic leader of the sect, is accused of having orchestrated the drama, while links with Brittany begin to emerge.

Under cover of associations “well-being”Luc Jouret had infiltrated the region. Using popular themes such as homeopathy and healthy eating, he managed to attract and recruit around fifty followers in Brittany, more particularly in the country of Brest. Conferences on alternative medicine and cassettes promoting New Age ideologies were among his tools of seduction.

Renaud Marhic, former journalist specializing in this affair, underlines: “Jouret saw Brittany as a mystical land, supposedly spared during a hypothetical day of the Apocalypse.”

The Brest pharmacist Claude Giron, a fervent follower of the sect, would have played a decisive role. According to Marhic, Giron manufactured the famous homeopathic survival kits, distributed to followers, and would have ordered vials of Rohypnol, a powerful sedative suspected of having been used to put victims to sleep before their execution in Switzerland.

Claude Giron, pharmacist in Brest and devoted follower of the Order of the Solar Temple, was quickly suspected of having provided the substances that facilitated the massacre. “It was thanks to a bailiff commissioned by a family that the investigation discovered an abnormal order of sedatives shortly before the tragic events,” assure Renaud Marhic.

However, despite these disturbing elements, Giron will benefit from a dismissal of the case, due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Today, the shadow of doubt still hangs over this affair. The Brest connection remains a key element for understanding the international and organized dimension of the Order of the Solar Temple.

Thirty years later, the Breton ramifications of the sect have left their mark. “What remains today in Brest are former followers happy to have escaped death, but who have no desire to return to this episode”confides Renaud Marhic. These survivors, after having been financially drained by the sect, have remained discreet, avoiding any media coverage of their past within this deadly organization.

During the last days of the sect, Luc Jouret moved away from Brittany. Members asking for their money. Only a few followers, the most vulnerable, followed him on his last journey to the south of France, while the majority of Brest followers ended up moving away from the sect.

The massacres of the Order of the Solar Temple in 1994 marked a decisive turning point in the fight against sectarian excesses in France. Previously perceived as “sweet dreamers”the followers of the sects have shown their dangerousness. In 2002, an interministerial mission for vigilance and the fight against sects (MIVILUDES) was created to supervise and prevent such abuses.

However, 30 years later, Renaud Marhic regrets that the resources allocated to the fight against these organizations have considerably decreased: “The news has changed focus, and vigilance towards the sects has greatly diminished. What happened with the Solar Temple could, in the long term, happen again elsewhere.”

with Sarra Bencherifa