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France updates sub-launched nuclear missile, Louvre heist suspects in custody and a life sentence for woman who raped, murdered a school girl

France updates sub-launched nuclear missile, Louvre heist suspects in custody and a life sentence for woman who raped, murdered a school girl

Happy Halloween to all who celebrate! This week, accountability has behaved like an elusive ghost. At times, justice feels near or nearer than before, such as the case with several of the lead items this week from the several suspects in the Louvre heist being rounded up to changes to France's rape law in light of the extremely upsetting Gisèle Pelicot case. But justice remains a ghost, at times present and at other times dominated by waves of perfidious behaviors. 

When it comes to unity regarding collective security, a lack of consistency and contribution to the common good can lead to catastrophe. In the Alpine region, security remains imperfect but better than elsewhere in the bloc of Western nations we used to think of as the free world. The fragments might be there, but the collective will to act will determine everything.

In the center of the Alpine region are two self-proclaimed neutral states, Austria and Switzerland. The comfortable and unafflicted cannot contain a smugness that comes with evading responsibility. It is a problem – but not just for those looking for friends and allies where there might be none.  There might be money for weapons systems and a will to procure them but this alone is not enough when the priorities are elsewhere to the east in Ukraine or even further afield in the Middle East. 

The path to peace is not necessarily in proclaiming it but rather in the delivery. Not even a country the size of Russia, which has been in a war economy for over two years can meet its own defense needs. It has sent Cubans and North Koreans and mercenaries from African and Central Asian states to the meat grinder of the front lines while previously decommissioned tanks have been brought out of museums. There are over one million dead on the battlefields of Ukraine – a veritable slaughter that so beyond eclipses everything that has and might yet happen in Gaza. 

But perhaps the greatest nudges can come from the outside – such as when Patriot missiles Switzerland purchased end up defending Ukraine without a word of Swiss will to do anything about it. Austria might be ahead of their Swiss neighbors by virtue of EU membership but the country's outsized reputation as a den of Russian spies and assets would be a barrier even if the country decided to apply for NATO membership.

Welcome to the new Alpine Security Monitor! You can subscribe (and become a paid subscriber!) for weekly updates on security and geopolitics as it concerns the Alpine region, namely Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland (ok, little Liechtenstein and Monaco too when merited). If this was forwarded to you, welcome!

PARIS, FRANCE – France modernizes submarine-launched nuclear missile

  • Defense News reports that France announced updates Tuesday to the country's M51 submarine-launched strategic ballistic missile by defense contractor ArianeGroup, a joint venture between Airbus and Safran.
  • The newest and third version of the M51 "has new nuclear warheads as well as improved range, accuracy and capability to penetrate enemy defenses," the Armed Forces Ministry said. The upgraded missile "will be deployed aboard France's four Le Triomphant nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines."
  • The operational commissioning of the third version of the M51 was signed Friday by Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Seven suspects in Louvre jewelry heist in custody

  • CNN reports French authorities detained two suspects known to authorities Saturday evening "in connection with the theft of priceless jewels from the Louvre museum". Overnight Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reports five more suspects were taken into custody in raids "across the Paris region", including one man who "is suspected of being part of the four-man team who carried out the heist".
  • Prosecutor Laure Beccuau told French radio on Thursday that the man who was believed to have been directly involved in the heist was linked to the crime via DNA evidence and one of the initial suspects, a 34-year-old Algerian national, was taken into custody Saturday was detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he attempted to leave the country. The other suspect detained Saturday is a 39-year-old French national. Also on Wednesday evening, prosecutors filed initial charges of criminal conspiracy and organized theft against the first two suspects brought into custody.
  • Two weeks ago, thieves targeted the Apollo gallery at the Louvre in broad daylight shortly after the museum opened during a seven minute-long heist, making off with jewels valued at €88 million ($102 million).

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Woman gets life sentence for sexual assault and murder of school girl

  • The BBC reports Algerian national Dahbia Benkired, 27, became the first woman in French history to receive a life sentence for the sexual assault and murder of a school girl, Lola Daviet, 12, "in a case that has shocked France."
  • Benkired "must spend at least 30 years in prison" of her "whole-life term," something that is "extremely rare in France", for the October 2022 sexual assault and brutal attack with scissors and a box cutter of Daviet, who died from asphyxiation after she was bound with duct tape "including around her head". Daviet's body was discovered "in a plastic storage box in the courtyard of the building where she lived" in the northeast of the capital. Benkired carried out the assault and murder in an apartment in the building that her older sister was subletting.
  • Benkired overstayed a student visa and had been stopped at the airport in July 2022 and told she had 30 days to leave the country. Days after the murder, the president of France's far-right National Rally party Jordan Bardella wrote on X that Benkired "had no business being in France". Daviet's parents denounced the use of their late child's name and likeness "for political ends"; the girl's father died last year at the age of 49.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – France tightens rape, sexual assault law to include non-consentual acts

  • The AP reports the French Senate tightened the existing laws concerning rape and sexual assault to include "any non-consensual sexual act" in the wake of the Gisèle Pelicot case where 51 men, including Pelicot's now ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, were convicted of rape and abuse after Pelicot's then husband invited them to violate her when she was unconscious after he had drugged her.
  • Specifically, the new law states that "any non-consensual sexual act constitutes sexual assault", with consent defined as "freely given, informed, specific, prior and revocable" which is determined "in light of the circumstances." Further, the text states consent "cannot be inferred solely from the silence or lack of reaction of the victim." Additionally, "violence, coercion, threat or surprise" contradict the definition of consent. Previously, rape was defined as penetration or oral sex using "violence, coercion, threat or surprise" alone.
  • The bill passed unanimously 327-0 with 15 Senators abstaining.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Ten people on trial accused of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron

  • CNN reports ten people went on trial Monday in Paris "accused of the online harassment of French First Lady Brigitte Macron," for saying she was born a man three months after the first couple sued far-right American podcaster Candace Owens in the US over similar claims.
  • The case in France comes after the French First Lady filed a legal complaint in August 2024 through her lawyer "alleging cyberbullying, which led to two waves of arrests in February and March of 2025." The initial investigations concerned "malicious" claims made about her "gender and sexuality, as well as describing the age difference between her and the president as 'pedophilia,' the prosecutor said." The trial will likely last two days with a verdict to come some time down the road.
  • Those on trial include eight men and two women between the ages of 41 and 60. They include an elected official, a gallery owner, an IT specialist, a teacher, a property manager, a business owner and an advertising executive.

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Three Bulgarians go on trial for attack on Holocaust monument

  • Politico reports the trial of three Bulgarians accused of perpetrating an active measures-style attack by vandalizing the Wall of the Righteous last May began in Paris on Wednesday.
  • In total, 35 red hand prints were splayed across the 25-meter wall dedicated to "those who saved Jews in France during World War II". Police were able to quickly identify three Bulgarian nationals as the culprits following the attack on the memorial last May but not before they fled via Brussels to Sofia; Bulgaria extradited all three suspects to France. One of the suspects has several tattoos featuring neo-Nazi symbols. France 24 reports a fourth suspect who allegedly made travel accommodations for the others is also in custody.
  • Authorities say the case offers a "rare window into Russia's escalating campaign to destabilize France through covert influence and psychological operations." Other incidents blamed on Russia's active measures campaign to destabilize France include leaving pig heads outside mosques, spraying Stars of David on buildings and leaving coffins beside the Eiffel Tower. Each act belays the intention to "inflame tensions between France's Jewish and Muslim communities or to erode support for Ukraine ahead of a pivotal 2027 presidential election." France "has become a hot spot in Russia's hybrid war against Europe."

 

VALENCE, FRANCE – Train cables tageted in arson attack, 100 trains delayed across France

  • Deutsche Welle reports approximately 100 high-speed trains were delayed across France on Monday following an arson attack on train cables just south of Valence in the southeast of the country.
  • French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot wrote on X that the cables were "deliberately set on fire," adding "gendarmes are on sight". The country's "most heavily frequented main line" between Paris and the southern city of Marseille was affected by the incident.
  • The national railway operator SNCF said 16 cables needed to be replaced and normal service would unlikely resume before Tuesday morning.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – German foreign minister postpones China trip over lack of meetings

  • Politico reports last Friday that the German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul postponed his trip to China that was set to begin Sunday over a dearth of meetings on his schedule.
  • While he was scheduled for "a sitdown with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, there were not enough meetings with the Beijing side on his agenda," a foreign ministry spokesperson said. Politico calls it a "bombshell" which is perhaps an exaggeration but the bigger shock is perhaps that the public admission of the reason for the postponed trip, which is sure to "roil relations between Berlin and Beijing."
  • At the same time, Chinese trade with Germany just surpassed the US in the first eight months of this year, according to Reuters, though "German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche announced that Berlin was lodging a diplomatic protest against China for blocking semiconductor shipments." Wadephul "had planned to press Beijing" on easing export restrictions on rare minerals and semiconductors.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Rosneft in Germany not subject to US sanctions

  • Reuters reports Germany's Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said Tuesday that the US had offered a "Letter of Comfort" reassuring Germany that the German business of Russia's Rosneft is not subject to new US sanctions imposed last week "because the assets are no longer under Russian control".
  • The "Letter of Comfort" reportedly acknowledged that "Rosneft's operations in Germany had been fully separated from the Russian parent company."
  • Germany sought clarification and argued that Rosneft's refineries in Germany had been placed under German state trusteeship in 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

 

MUNICH, GERMANY – Bavarian police bust multi-million Euro art forgery ring

  • The BBC reports Bavarian police announced last Friday that they had "seized millions of euros worth of forged art claiming to show works by Picasso, Rembrandt and Kahlo" belonging to a ring of 11 individuals "in an operation spanning Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein."
  • A 77-year-old German man is the primary suspect. Investigators became suspicious when he tried to sell two works he claimed were by Picasso after which he tried to sell De Staalmeesters by Rembrandt for 120 million Swiss france (€130 million or $151 million) "despite the origiinal hanging in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam." The forged version belonged to an 84-year-old Swiss woman who is also now under investigation. The painting was seized along with other forged works allegedly created by Frida Kahlo, Peter Paul Rubens, Amedeo Modigliani and Joan Miró.
  • All the suspects have been charged with conspiracy and fraud. The 77-year-old German ringleader was assisted by a 74-year-old German man and the two "prepared expert reports specifically to confirm the authenticity of the artworks".

 

BOLOGNA, ITALY – Court approves extradition of Nord Stream2 suspect to Germany

  • Deutsche Welle reports a court in Bologna approved the extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian suspect in the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea Monday.
  • The man, identified only as Serhii K. in accordance with strict German privacy laws, was arrested in August in the coastal Adriatic town of Rimini while vacationing with his wife and children. He has since been held in "a high-security prison in northern Italy."
  • A court in Bologna previously approved his extradition in September but his lawyer took the case to Italy's highest court which halted the extradition due to procedural errors before sending it back to the court in Bologna. Last week, a court in Poland refused the extradition of another suspect in the case before throwing the case out of court.

 

LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA – Ministers resign over fatal attack allegedly perpetrated by Roma

  • Agence France Presse reports the interior and justice ministers of Slovenia resigned on Sunday amid public outrage after a "48-year-old man was killed in an attack in front of a bar early on Saturday in the city of Novo Mesto", allegedly by a member of the Roma community.
  • Slovenia's Prime Minister Robert Golub said Interior Minister Bostjan Poklukar and Justice Minister Andreja Katic will remain on the job until their successors have been appointed. While police say "a 21-year-old man with a criminal record" was detained, media and locals attribute the attack to members of the local Roma community. On Sunday, "Hundreds of mourners gathered for a vigil". The case has also gained considerable traction in conservative media, including The European Conservative, who described the victim as "a well-known local barman" and named the night club, LokalPatriot.
  • The minority Roma community in Novo Mesto has been blamed for a rise in petty crime and violence over the last year. At Sunday's vigil, Novo Mesto mayor Gregor Macedoni pointed the finger directly at the community: "This violent event proves the Roma problem we've been warning about for a long time is worsening".

 

WINTERTHUR, SWITZERLAND – Man sentenced to therapy for plotting to kill Jews

  • Swissinfo reports a 51-year-old former hotel manager of Palestinian origin from Lebanon was convicted of plotting to kill Jews and sentenced to 18 months in jail which was later commuted to out-patient therapy in Winterthur, Switzerland.
  • While the court rejected his defense that he was "joking" when he "announced via WhatsApp that he would become a suicide bomber in Zurich's 'Jewish Quarter'," the fact that he traveled when he was "heavily intoxicated" with three knives via train from Winterthur to Zurich, where he was arrested at the station, did not ultimately merit detention or serious punishment in the judges' view.
  • The judges in the case said the therapy is to help him overcome alcoholism not seething hatred and violent tendencies.

 

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Swiss and German far-right figures co-found new association

  • Swiss French language public broadcaster RTS reports former Federal Swiss Councillor Ueli Maurer along with former German intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen and German politician and author Thilo Sarrazin announced the formation of a new association, the Leonhard Circle, rooted in far-right views on the world and named for the patron saint of prisoners, something none of them are.
  • It is unclear what the full intent of the new association is, though currently the trio say the aim is to "organize conferences and 'political education' events." All three are controversial: Maurer was recently in China for a military parade with Xi Jinping, Maassen has been under investigation for right-wing extremism by the office he used to lead and Sarrazin has a history of saying and writing demeaning things about Jews and Muslims.
  • RTS reports, "According to the Leonhard Circle, it is no longer possible to say what one really thinks about the climate, immigration, or even the coronavirus," less one suffer "being classified as a bad guy, an extremist, or even being silenced." Natürlich the trio see themselves as victims of anti-woke ideology and prisoners of conscience for those seething with hatred. Despite the claims of persecution, none of these figures has served a day or more in prison but more importantly in their view, they feel themselves the victim which is still not quite actually the same thing as being one. Perhaps in a different, pre-post-heroic era, they would be truly free to act on their conspiratorial fantasies unencumbered by pesky societal and legal concerns for the dignity and humanity of others.

 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Privacy group files criminal complaint against Clearview AI

  • Agence France Presse reports Tuesday that Austrian data privacy group Noyb, which stands for "none of your business," filed a criminal complaint against US image recognition firm Clearview AI "for illegally amassing a database of billions of photos of faces."
  • Clearview AI scraped the internet and social networks of images of faces without permission for use in a database which it then sells to law enforcement as a facial recognition tool. EU privacy regulators have already fined and banned the firm for violations of the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
  • Noyb hopes against hope that Austrian prosecutors will go after Clearview AI's leadership and hold them "personally liable and even send them to jail."

 

And finally this week…

 

ROME, ITALY – Japanese tourist dies after falling from perimeter wall of the Pantheon

  • The BBC reports Italian authorities announced last Saturday the death of a 69-year-old Japanese tourist, Morimasa Hibino, who fell from the perimeter wall of the Pantheon in Rome.
  • The man is believed to have fallen from a height of approximately seven meters (23 feet) at "one of Italy's most visit attractions" at 9:50 pm last Friday.
  • A priest alerted police after he saw the man lying in a ditch.

 

Stay safe and unafflicted by all manner of criminality!

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