French jihadist cell sentenced in attack on kosher grocery

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(JTA) — A French court sentenced members of a jihadist network for a grenade attack on a Jewish grocery store in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles in September 2012.

The 18 men, known as the “Cannes-Torcy cell,” were handed sentences of one to 28 years in prison at a special anti-terror tribunal Thursday in Paris, France 24 reported.

The cell, which was dismantled in 2012, was accused of having planned several other attacks, as well as seeking to join jihadist ranks in Syria. Two of the original 20 defendants were acquitted.

The prosecution demanded “exemplary punishments” for the cell, according to France 24. The cell’s leader, Jeremie Louis-Sidney, was killed in October 2012 when police tried to arrest him in the eastern city of Strasbourg.

Jeremy Bailly, found guilty of throwing the grenade at the Sarcelles market, was given the longest prison term, 28 years.

The cell included members from well-to-do families, and with roots in Algeria, Laos and France. Half were converts to Islam.

One person was lightly wounded in the attack on the store in the heavily Jewish suburb, which was full of shoppers after the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

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