Attack on the SNCF: a suspect released, where is the investigation ?

“Attack on SNCF: a suspect released, where is the investigation ?”

Three leads are being considered by investigators after the massive attack on the SNCF TGV network last weekend. The man arrested on a site closed to the public in Seine-Maritime has been released.

The SNCF network was the victim of three acts of sabotage on its TGV network during the night of Thursday 25 July to Friday 26 July, blocking traffic on many routes. In a press release, the railway company informed that “deliberate fires [had] been started to damage [their] installations”. The action was claimed with an email sent to several media outlets on Saturday, July 27.

The public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into “damage to property likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation”, “damage and attempted damage by dangerous means in an organized gang”, “attacks on an automated processing system” of data in an organized gang”, and “criminal association with a view to committing these crimes and offences”.

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Three main leads for investigators

An anonymous email claiming responsibility for the attack in the name of a desire to sabotage the Olympic Games was sent to several media outlets on Saturday, July 27. The rhetoric of the text is reminiscent of that of the ultra-left movement. Investigators are studying this lead but question the authenticity of this claim.

The possibility of foreign interference is also being considered. Finally, the precision of the sabotage suggests internal participation within the SNCF. Investigators remain cautious about the email possibility:  "The tone of the email, its form, the gap between the facts and the day it was sent raises questions for us," notes a source close to the case to 20 Minutes.

The man arrested on a released SNCF site

On Tuesday, July 30, environmentalist Marine Tondelier did not hesitate to criticize Gérald Darmanin's assessment of the arrest of 45 members of Extinction Rebellion after the sabotage of high-speed lines: “44 were released without any follow-up. Some spent eleven hours in custody at seen for putting up a sticker in the metro. The Olympics aren't fun,” she said on France 2.

As a reminder, a man was arrested on Sunday evening, July 28, at an SNCF site in Oissel in Seine-Maritime. He was placed under judicial supervision but denies “any involvement in acts of degradation against the SNCF.” He claims to have come to this site to “create street art”, says the deputy public prosecutor of Rouen, Aude Helbert, comments relayed by 20 Minutes. He has now been released and will be tried for the acts of “entering, circulating or parking on a part of a railway line or non-public outbuildings assigned to the SNCF”, before the Rouen court on November 28, 2024.