Lone suspect in 1980 Paris synagogue bombing that killed 4 goes on trial
PARIS — A Lebanese Canadian academic who is the lone suspect in a 1980 bombing outside a Paris synagogue went on trial in absentia Monday, nearly 43 years after four people were killed and 46 wounded in the attack.
French authorities identified Hassan Diab as a suspect in 1999. They have accused him of planting the bomb on the evening of Oct. 3, 1980, outside the synagogue where 320 worshipers had gathered to mark the end of a Jewish holiday.
Diab, 69, has denied involvement in the attack and said he was at a university in Beirut at the time of the western Paris bombing. His supporters and lawyers in France and Canada say Diab has been wrongly pursued by French judicial authorities as a victim of mistaken identity.
French investigators attributed the synagogue attack to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations. Canada authorized Diab’s extradition to France at the end of 2014. He spent three years in pretrial detention, but anti-terrorism judges then ordered him to be freed from French custody because of a lack of evidence, and he returned to Canada. He lives in Ottawa.
France’s court of appeal ruled in January 2021 that Diab must stand trial on terrorism-related charges. If convicted, he could receive a life sentence. A verdict is expected by April 21.
Survivors of the attack and victims’ families attended the first day of court proceedings in Paris on Monday. Prosecutor Benjamin Chambre said Diab’s absence was proof of “great cowardice in his behavior.”
Dmitri Mishin is accused of firing blanks inside an orthodox synagogue in San Francisco. The congregants are left to grapple with a shattered sense of safety and a fear that no one cares.
“It’s a grave abomination for justice and for the victims 43 years after the events,” Chambre said.
Diab’s lawyer William Bourdon said his client has “never fled” anything.
For survivors, the long path to trial may be justice delayed but at least it’s not justice denied, their lawyers told the Associated Press. The victims’ attorneys say the trial will serve as a deterrent for future terrorist acts and antisemitic incidents.
“It’s a positive development that the trial is taking place, even if he will not be there and even if he is acquitted,” said Bernard Cahen, a lawyer for two families who lost loved ones.
Jaime Tran has a history of making antisemitic statements and is suspected of shooting two Jewish men in recent days, a criminal complaint said.
David Pere, a lawyer for a then-14-year-old victim who was celebrating his bar mitzvah at the time of the attack, said the “path of justice must be followed,” even after more than four decades of investigation and legal drama. There is a suspect in the attack, and Pere said his client wants to hear what Diab has to say in court, even if only through his lawyers.
“A terrorist attack is something that haunts you every day of your life,” Pere said. “A trial is a result [of an attack], not revenge for it.”
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