At the trial of the far-right group AFO, one of the leaders juggles between denial and memory lapses

"The goal was to defend ourselves and our families in the event of a disturbance." Bernard S. calmly repeated this in court, before the eyes of the fifteen other defendants, former members of the AFO group, accused of having fomented multiple Islamophobic actions between the summers of 2017 and 2018. All are being prosecuted for terrorist conspiracy.

The head of the Île-de-France section appears cordial with the president, but the content of the exchanges is much less so . The man, now 76, was the organizer of meetings where members handled firearms, napalm, and Molotov cocktails. According to the prosecution, he also participated in the manufacture of grenades and was a regular relay of Islamophobic diatribes to other members. In an email discovered by investigators, Bernard S. said he was ready for "firm and determined action to fight the Islamization of France." He even mentioned these murderous objectives during recruitment interviews for new members of the group. "It was provocation, something extreme to see the reactions," the septuagenarian defended himself on Thursday.

According to him, these anti-Muslim projects were only in their embryonic stage, "crazy ideas" uttered in these meetings where Islamophobic phrases were commonplace and shocked no one. AFO members imagined, for example, throwing a grenade into the "Arabs' car" in the middle of a traffic jam, "killing 200 imams" or injecting cyanide into halal food before putting it back on the shelf. "What's the point if we exclude all morality, all humanity? It didn't make sense, except for killing women and children," the former human resources consultant explains today, quick to blame other members of the group, without naming them, however. "I learned not to snitch at the school of the Republic," he justifies himself.

On the contrary, according to him, Bernard S. was doing everything he could to prevent these operations from coming to fruition. What about the document found at his home, listing a detailed modus operandi of future actions? "A deterrent list to show them that they were not capable ( of taking action, Editor's note) " , assures the accused. The confiscated grenades, two-thirds of which are offensive? They were "for times when it would be necessary to deal with an intrusion. Besides, there is nothing to boast about their effectiveness" , assures the man who believes, after a very personal reading of the Koran, that " Islam is not compatible with the values ​​of the Republic " .

Faced with each element highlighted by the president during the hearing, Bernard S. minimizes, circumvents, and evades. As with the complimentary email he sent to the group's bomb disposal expert, congratulating him. " It was solely for the purpose of remotivating the troops," he says. Married to the mayor of a small village in Val-d'Oise, our man presents himself more as a camp counselor than the leader of a small Islamophobic far-right group. "It was necessary to bring all that under control, I like things to be clear, " he insists. "I don't trust some of the people around me."

Was it to channel them that he assured, from the creation of the group, that "each member would have, in addition to his appropriate equipment, a knife and a handgun" ? "Everything was going in all directions, everyone was saying anything and everything," he recalls. It was necessary to "give them objectives", and for this purpose he "listed target buildings and vehicles" . Which ones? The retiree suddenly has a memory lapse. To justify his request to establish "local, deadly operations" with Guy S., the group's creator, he claims that he wanted to "put him on the spot" , tired of the "hodgepodge" that the AFO leader was serving him. "It's a lunar defense, it's like we're on Netflix" , sighs a lawyer for the civil parties, astounded by the accused's nerve.

In other situations, this white knight of AFO was content to obey, he who condemns police officers and gendarmes, "these civil servants subject to the orders of politicians who do not necessarily have the backbone to formulate adequate instructions." As when he became the transmission belt, by email, of Islamophobic texts from sites like Réveil patriote or Guerre de France, denouncing "the Muslim influence that is taking hold in France." Before the court, Bernard S. assures: he "obeyed," but did not agree with these texts. Enough to make the president tick: "You present yourself as a resistance fighter, but here, what is striking is your docility. 'Resistance fighter', for you, that catches the ear a little."