In France, a 15-year-old has been taken into custody on suspicion of planning an attack targeting Jewish people or LGBTQ individuals. As the anti-terror prosecutor’s office announced on Friday, the minor, arrested a week earlier in the Rhône department, is being investigated for “involvement in a terrorist organization for the preparation of one or more crimes against persons.” The investigation also involves France’s domestic intelligence service.
The prosecutor’s office said the teenager aimed “to die as a martyr” and to carry out violence against the Jewish or LGBTQ community. The lawyer representing the suspect, Gianni de Georgi, told the news agency AFP that his client primarily needs “psychological support.”
France, according to anti-terror prosecutor Olivier Christen, has in recent years increasingly opened terror investigations against juvenile suspects. In February, two youths in northern France were arrested after expressing a “fascination” with jihadists and, according to their own statements, planning an attack on a shopping mall or a concert hall.
