Twenty-two people are to stand trial in France from Monday on charges of murder and other serious crimes centred on a Masonic lodge accused of running hit squads.

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.

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.

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.

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. (AFP)



Edited by Tony Sabine