Two Moldovan nationals were arrested in Paris last Friday after admitting they painted Stars of David on a wall on the orders of an unidentified individual, the Paris prosecutor’s office told POLITICO Wednesday.
“An individual in Russia” directed the 33-year-old man and 29-year-old woman to carry out the act in Paris’ 10th arrondissement, according to French radio station Europe 1.
The two, who have not been identified publicly, were arrested over “property damage” connected to “origin, race, ethnicity or religion,” after a local resident saw them “daubing a blue star” on a wall, which was erased the same day, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The office added that legal proceedings against the couple were terminated “due to a sanction of another nature” — namely their “expulsion” from the country.
The suspects, the prosecutor’s office said, were in the country without legal permission and were taken to an administrative detention center.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, in which she vowed to condemn those accused of antisemitism in France, saying: “Nothing justifies hatred and violence.”
“It’s the duty of our country to combat this. It’s the duty of the republic to protect all the Jews of France,” she added.
Earlier this week, Paris prosecutors told POLITICO some 60 Stars of David were daubed on walls in the city’s 14th arrondissement, prompting them to launch a probe into the incidents.
