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On August 10, a Rwandan national murdered a Catholic priest in western France a year after he caused a major fire that ravaged the cathedral in the French city of Nantes last year.
The suspect named as Emmanuel A. came to police in the town of Mortagne-sur-Sevre in the Vendée region and declared he had killed the local priest.
The victim, a 60 ears old priest, was identified as Olivier Maire. He had been welcoming a Rwandan national into his church for several months.
Det är ingen hemlighet, i internationell press, att Prästen Olivier Maire brutalt slaktades av Emmanuel Abayisenga*, 40, från Rwanda som också ägnat sig åt mordbrand, då han försökt bränna ner Nantes Cathedral. #svpol #migpol
*Kod 291 i Sverigehttps://t.co/8s1Ett3gM3 pic.twitter.com/CDCuyKJgxI— Ombudsmannen (@Satirombudet) August 9, 2021
Previous to the murder, Emmanuel A. has confessed to being behind the fire at the main Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Nantes on July 18, 2020. After spending ten months in pre-trial detention, he was finally released, under judicial supervision, last June, awaiting trial.
Emmanuel A. was released on July 29 from the Georges Mazurelle hospital in La Roche-Sur-Yon where he had been in psychiatric care for a month.
My heart is breaking at this. Who is burning the Cathedrals down?! I remember walking to church to the sound of the bells; I painted this beautiful cathedral many times MT: PMBreakingNews: There is a massive fire at the historic Nantes Cathedral in France pic.twitter.com/SGgOLrBQ9m
— Treegs (@TReegs129) July 27, 2020
A Rwandan national, Emmanuel A. arrived in France in 2012 after fleeing his native country, where he witnessed the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994. In France, he integrated into the Christian community of Nantes and lived with other members of the clergy. He was a volunteer in the Cathedral of Nantes.
When he came to France, he had made numerous attempts to obtain asylum, but they all had been rejected. He was obliged to leave France in 2019.
“Emmanuel A., had addressed to the diocese of Nantes in early 2019 a “cry of distress”, judging himself in “a deplorable vicious circle”.- 20 Minutes reported.
Taking into account that he has twice claimed his responsibility in crime, he could profit from the charges to stay in the country.
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Such an incident may have important political consequences.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, claimed that today in France “you can be an illegal migrant, set fire to a cathedral, not be expelled and then reoffend by murdering a priest”.
Problems linked to immigration are now one of the main contradictions between Le Pen and centrist President Emmanuel Macron. They may play a pivotal role during the presidential elections next year in France.
