PARIS (CN) – This week,“Athanor” trial. – referring to a Masonic lodge at the heart of a criminal network – opened in Paris. Over the course of about three months, the court will consider the cases of 22 defendants, with charges ranging from criminal conspiracy to murder.
The backgrounds of the defendants are diverse: former employees of France’s foreign intelligence agency, a construction supervisor, a former journalist, a race car driver, a gunsmith – the list goes on. Few have criminal records.
“We are illuminating the personalities, the stories of the accused,” the presiding judge told a witness on Friday. She emphasized that the goal was to discuss character, not crime.
Throughout the week, court psychologists described the defendants’ childhoods, relationships and defining moments. Family members and partners also testified.
On Friday, the father of a defendant took the stand as his son watched by his side. The boy is charged with complicity by aiding and abetting an attempted murder, conspiracy to commit organized murder and organization to receive stolen goods.
But his father told the story of a boy who had always been “respectful to people”. His son’s lawyer then asked a question.
“Do you have any idea of the word your son used to describe you?” he asked.
“Maybe the old one?” his father joked.
“He described you as his hero,” the lawyer said.
A collective sigh erupted in the courtroom. The defendant’s father took off his glasses, lowered his head and began to cry. His son’s muffled sobs could be heard from the back of the courtroom as his shoulders shook.
Throughout the week, the stories mostly revealed education, schooling and ordinary work. But the case has been compared to a movie plot.
In July 2020, Pierre Bourdin and Carl Esnault were sitting in a black Clio on the outskirts of Paris, following the location of business coach Marie-Hélène Dini, whom they had been instructed to kill. Dressed suspiciously for the summer heat in gloves and hats, the men attracted the attention of a passerby, who called the police.
After their arrest, Bourdin and Esnault told investigators they were working for France’s foreign intelligence agency, the Directorate-General for External Security, or DGSE, and that they had been ordered to kill Dini because she allegedly worked for the Mossad. However, the police found no evidence to support the claim.
The investigation led authorities to a wider criminal network linked to the Athanor Masonic lodge in Puteaux, a suburb of Paris.
Jean-Luc Bagur, Frederic Vaglio and Daniel Beaulieu are accused of running the network. Investigators say Bagur, the “honored master” of the Athanor lodge, was also a business rival of Din, providing a possible motive for the plot.
According to investigators, the group exploited the ambitions of Bourdin and Esnault. Both men worked as guards at a DGSE military base but hoped to become field operatives. Bourdin told investigators he was tired of watching surveillance screens all day and wanted a mission.
On Friday afternoon, Bourdin and Esnault entered the Paris courtroom wearing baseball caps and face masks, which they removed once inside. Bourdin, dressed in skinny blue jeans and a white sweater with blue stripes, walked alone down the hall with bloodshot eyes as he waited for the hearing to begin.
Before proceedings began, the two men exchanged raised eyebrows and deep sighs.
The three-month trial concerns the murder of a racing driver, the attempted murder of Dini and a trade unionist, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. Prosecutors have filed 112 charges against the group, including 16 felonies and 86 misdemeanors. Four defendants face life imprisonment.
Earlier on Friday, the wife of a defendant testified. Her husband is charged with attempted extortion after allegedly trying to collect a debt by threatening a couple with pedophilia charges, placing dead rats in their garden and making threatening phone calls. He is also charged with participating in a criminal conspiracy to commit extortion as part of an organized group.
His wife described the defendant as “someone who is polite, likeable… he has a discreet side so he doesn’t tell me everything he does… especially with work”.
The couple have a 12-year-old daughter and their lives were relatively normal before the trial began; “Easy,” she said, albeit with some financial issues. Since she didn’t have a bank account, he would come with her to run errands and pay with a card; she could not elaborate on the extent of the trouble.
She said that this ordeal has been “traumatizing” for her and she cannot sleep at night despite having visited a psychologist and taking medication.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been in a courtroom,” she said.
The personality tests will continue until April 10. After that, the court is expected to move towards “general investigations”. The decision is expected on July 17.
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