An investigation of the French Media Part revealed that dozens of current and former soldiers in the French army speak out in full view of their belonging to the neo-Nazi group, without being subjected to harassment or demobilization from the army, despite a parliamentary recommendation to follow up on those who engage in extremist right groups.
The website - in a joint lengthy investigation between the writers Sebastian Bourdon and Matthew Suk - said that social networks of dozens of ex-soldiers and former soldiers who did not hide their allegiance to the neo-Nazi ideology, such as the so-called "Alan P" who wrote on Facebook, said that "a bullet should be placed in the head of immigrants". , Despite being a member of the Thirteenth Alpine Snipers Battalion.
And on his account on Instagram, this young soldier puts pictures that show him in uniform, and others close to a tattoo on his forehead saying "My honor is his name loyalty" (Meine Ehre heißt Treue), a slogan engraved on the belts of employees of the Nazi "swarm of protection" (SS), as a sign of their loyalty By Adolf Hitler.
Upon contacting the French Ministry of Armies, she confirmed that the persons mentioned in the investigation of the site, some of them are still in service, and the information received about them has been provided to their superiors.
The ministry indicated that it does not have the means to follow the publications of its 140,000 employees when they write on the Internet, especially since they often do not mention their military status and may write under pseudonyms.
Although the security investigation must "exclude any candidate showing signs of at least weakening from extremism," Media Part revealed the "Yan C" case that appeared in October 2016 and on other occasions in uniforms bearing the slogan "Blood and Honor" (Blut and Ehre) neo-Nazism, and this did not prevent him from joining the first regiment of parachute regiment at the end of 2018.
Logos and overdo it
Among the cases identified by Media Part, was the case of the sergeant in the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment "Rockyck R", who displays himself topless at his expense on Instagram, in order to obtain admiration on his tattoo that shows the Celtic cross above the word "white", in addition to the slogan "Protection Squadron". "He was tattooed in Russian.
However, the French army has installed a device that is supposed to track "information related to potential extremism," says a fact-finding mission report that, for example, refers to punishing someone with a "badly trimmed" beard or saying the word "discrimination", but what about the neo-Nazi slogans?
The investigation indicated that the disclosure of another neo-Nazi associate called "François D" was possible before and after his recruitment, because two months before he joined the 13th Battalion of Alpine Snipers in September 2016, he appeared on Facebook in a gesture similar to the Nazi salute, and he posted his photo On their profile, making it easier to identify.
After Francois joined the battalion - as the investigation says - he did not hide his views from some of his comrades, as he was active in the extreme right-wing Edelweiss group, and that he participated in an attack on a concert, and was given an alert without affecting his military career. .
The authors pointed out that the photos published in 2015 of a Russian soldier of Rodion, showing that he was making a nod-like gesture, and wearing a sports shirt with a swastika, did not raise any questions from his superiors.
The investigation enumerated many examples of soldiers and officers bearing explicit Nazi signs on their bodies, such as "Teddy M," whose body was adorned with majestic black sun on his shoulder and the slogan "White Power" on the arm, then the slogan "Squadron of Protection" on the chest.
Warnings
The investigation said that the Department of Homeland Security provided a warning about the increasing proportion of soldiers or members of the security forces who had joined right-wing extremist groups in the fall of 2017, and had suspected about 50 policemen, gendarmes, and soldiers to the extreme right-wing.
A secret report by the European Law Enforcement Agency (Europol), in turn, warned that the European extreme right was arming and recruiting members of the European armies, and in this context a British corporal was sentenced to eight years in prison after trying to recruit others on behalf of the banned neo-Nazi group.
The Media Part investigation indicated that the profiles of ex-soldiers are particularly wanted by various groups of the far-right, citing an example of a former soldier, "Valentin D" whose investigation revealed his involvement in an attack on an activist in December 2019.
On his Instagram account, Valentin showed his admiration for the Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and put on his profile a picture glorifying him with the black sun.
The investigating authors asked, how can it be explained that the ten cases identified by Media Part, which rely on open sources, did not attract the attention of the French army ministry, despite the fact that a number of groups were placed under surveillance because of the accession of soldiers to them?
Although the ministry did not respond to the site's questions in this regard, an internal source in the French army said that some of them - without the desire to specify their number - were already identified and their files "under treatment", but that it takes time.
In the context, the site referred to the arrest and indictment of some former soldiers, as well as the dismantling of some extreme right-wing cells, such as a cell in which a student from the Air Force Officers Training School had planned violent acts against immigrants and political assassinations.
Legitimate violence
The investigation indicated that the report of the fact-finding mission on extremism in public administrations confirmed that current and former French soldiers had engaged in the revolt in the "Donbass" region of Ukraine, and that others had gone to Syria to fight the Islamic State "with motives close to the extreme right."
During a conference held in France in September 2019 under the title "Internal Security: the Status of Threats and Prospects", the speakers unanimously agreed on the "jihadist threat" that occurred in recent years, and the emergence of "violent subversive" currents that require activating the work of the state's capabilities, especially the apparatus Intelligence.
Then-Secretary of State Laurent Nunez had warned of "anarchists, the extreme left and anti-corruption", and the National Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Pierre de Bosquet de Florian had warned of "presumed defenders of the climate and new separatists", but the far-right was barely mentioned.
The report of the fact-finding mission on extremism in public administrations concluded that "the armed forces are at present safe from any major extremism ... because the military establishment is in essence not permissive, and therefore leaves little room for behavior incompatible with the service of the nation and the values of the Republic."
According to figures provided by the French Intelligence and Defense Security Directorate to the two rapporteurs, the level of suspicion of extremism, "whether Islamic or political", was 0.05% for the ground forces, and 0.03% for the navy.
Likewise, if dozens of cases revealed by Media Part were compared to the total number of those involved in all branches of the French army, who numbered 230,000 soldiers, their percentage is negligible, but - the investigation confirms - that dozens of extremists were found in the military establishment through open sources only and not Through the possibilities of the state, it necessarily makes the numbers discovered not express the true reality.