Ever notice that Western foreign interference hysteria inherently presumes that everyone in the general population is just a giant baby?

The observation really leaped out during a court case last week in Paris. Russia was tried in absentia, by headline and soundbite, in what’s being called a “Russian interference case.” The problem? The three Bulgarians actually present in the Paris courtroom weren’t charged with Russian interference.

The so-called ringleader, a fourth man named Mircho, who investigators said has ties to Russia, just happens to be hiding out somewhere in Serbia, where no one can seem to find him to ask him about any alleged Russian links. How convenient. So instead of evidence, we were left with a steady drip of anti-Russian insinuation from the press and French intelligence.

The four Bulgarians – including the one they can’t locate – were ultimately convicted and sentenced to prison stints ranging from two to four years for painting around 500 red handprints across the city last May – 35 of which ended up on a Holocaust memorial.

They had been facing charges of aggravated damage and criminal conspiracy, with a potential seven-year sentence, plus an added hate-crime aggravation, since prosecutors claimed that the red hands could reference that infamous lynching 25 years ago in Palestine where a man showed off his blood-covered hands after killing two Israeli reservists. Remember that? Neither do these guys, apparently.

One of the accused, 36-year-old Georgi, said of the orders that he received from his missing pal: “Mircho said it was a project to end the war, and that he needed a photographer… I thought it wasn’t a big deal, that no one would die. I accepted the money, and here I am.”

Ah yes, a noble mission to end the war between Israel and Palestine. And who better to represent peace........

© RT.com