A French court jailed on Wednesday a neo-Nazi militant of Jewish origin who had plotted to blow himself up in front of the Grand Mosque of Paris during Friday prayers.

Jean Trouchaud, also known as Florian Schekler, was sentenced to four years in prison, two of them suspended, and three years? probation.

The 31-year-old, born to Jewish parents, was a right-wing militant who frequented neo-Nazi groups and was known to have a hatred of Muslims. He knew Maxime Brunerie, a neo-Nazi who attempted to assassinate President Jacques Chirac in July 2002.

Alerted by domestic intelligence, police found chemicals like hydrochloric acid and acetone at Trouchaud?s home that could have been used to make explosives. There was a fascist party charter on his computer and a plan for a suicide attack.

People close to Trouchaud, who was arrested in February, told police he had told them he wanted to carry out a suicide attack on the Mosque to show that ?the Palestinian kamikazes don?t have a monopoly on such acts?.

The lawyer defending Trouchaud, who refused to appear in court, said the sentence was too harsh, although she said it was too early to say if Trouchaud would appeal.

?It seems relatively severe in relation to what he actually did,? lawyer Sophie Soria said after the judgment.

The Grand Mosque (photo), built in 1922 as a memorial to Muslims killed in World War One, is the largest centre of worship for followers of Islam in Paris.

Trouchaud retracted his initial statements to police saying he had planned an attack at the Mosque, saying he had been in a depressed state due to a friend?s suicide. Soria, backed up by a psychiatrist, said her client had had mental problems.