Lyon, France – Court Convicts Man for Attacks on Arabs, Jewish Cemetery

Lyon, France – A French court handed down a 20-year prison sentence to a man who confessed to having attacked two French nationals of North African origin with an ax and to vandalizing a Jewish cemetery.

Michael Tronchon turned himself in to Paris police. He admitted to the two ax attacks on a man in Villeurbanne, a suburb of the eastern city of Lyon, and another in Paris eight days later. The victim of the Villeurbanne attack was seriously injured while the other escaped with light injuries.
Tronchon, 27, also confessed to desecrating 62 tombstones in Lyon’s La Mouche cemetery that same time. Anti-Semetic graffiti was scrawled over the tombstones, as was the name “Phineas.”

During the trial, in Lyon, Tronchon expressed remorse for his actions, saying he “was not the same” person as before. [AP]