Sawt Falasteen - French masonic lodge at heart of murky murder trial

Seven of the defendants -- who include former intelligence agents, soldiers and businessmen -- risk life imprisonment.

The 22 are accused of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy on behalf of a mafia network inside the Athanor Masonic Lodge in the Paris suburb of Puteaux.

At least four freemasons from the 20 or so members of the lodge are in the dock.

Other defendants include four officers from France's DGSE foreign intelligence service, three police officers, six business executives, a security guard, a doctor and an engineer.

Most of the accused, aged between 30 and 73, have no previous criminal records.

The alleged ringleaders are Athanor freemasons Jean-Luc Bagur, Frederic Vaglio and Daniel Beaulieu. They face life in jail if convicted.

So does Beaulieu's right-hand man Sebastien Leroy, who is accused of carrying out the trio's dirty work himself or through a hit-man network.

The case was triggered by a botched contract killing in July 2020, when two members of France's parachute regiment were arrested in possession of weapons near the home of business coach Marie-Helene Dini.

Under questioning, they said they thought they had been asked to murder Dini on behalf of the French state on the grounds that she worked for Israeli spy agency Mossad.

- Escalating crimes -

Investigators discovered a link to Bagur, who is a business coach rival of Dini's as well as being the 69-year-old "venerable master" of the Athanor lodge.

Investigators say Bagur asked fellow freemason Vaglio to arrange to have his rival eliminated for a fee of 70,000 euros ($80,600).

Vaglio, a 53-year-old entrepreneur, allegedly acted as the intermediary between the big boss and a hit squad working for fellow Athanor freemason Beaulieu, a retired agent for the domestic intelligence service (DGSI).

The leader of the hit squad, Leroy, admitted in police custody that he or his associates carried out most of the Athanor mafia's assaults, robberies and murders -- including the killing of a racing car driver.

As time went on, the crimes ordered by the freemason mafia escalated from petty revenge attacks to homicide.

In a case of industrial espionage, Leroy's gang allegedly assaulted a businesswoman in the street and snatched her computer.

The car of one of Bagur's associates went up in flames in 2019 after she discovered evidence of financial fraud within his company.

In 2018, the body of racing driver Laurent Pasquali was found in a forest.

He had been bumped off, according to French media, allegedly for not paying a debt he owed to friends of Vaglio's.

- 'Terrifying' -

Leroy, who left the military to become a security guard, told police he thought he had been acting all the time on behalf of the government.

He complained that Beaulieu had "manipulated" him and dangled the idea of him becoming an informant for the DGSI spy agency.

"What my client found terrifying is the fact that the key figures in this case -- police officers, former DGSI agents and freemasons -- are precisely the people who are supposed to act for the good of society," said Dini's lawyer Jean-William Vezinet.

It is unclear what information the prosecution may be able to elicit from Beaulieu.

He made an apparent attempt to kill himself in police custody, which left him disabled and with "impaired concentration", his lawyer told AFP.

The trial is expected to run for at least three months.

D.Qudsi--SF-PST