A man confesses to having killed a priest in France. The clergyman is found dead. The alleged perpetrator is already known to the police from an earlier attack on a church.
Nantes – A Catholic priest was found killed in a small community near the western French city of Nantes.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin assured the Catholics in the country of his support “after the dramatic murder” on Monday and wanted to go to the crime scene, as he announced on Twitter. Head of state Emmanuel Macron also expressed his condolences on Twitter and commemorated the dead clergyman.
The alleged perpetrator was a 40-year-old man who had set a fire in the cathedral of Nantes last year, reported the broadcaster Franceinfo. After the fact, the man had now turned himself up at the police station in a neighboring village. A terrorist background was excluded.
As Franceinfo reported, the dead 60-year-old clergyman was discovered in the village of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre in the premises of the Montfortan priestly community. Apparently he was killed in his room with blows to the head. The alleged perpetrator had been admitted to the priesthood after a psychiatric stay at the end of May, reported the broadcaster France 3. Until his impending criminal trial because of the arson he had been under the supervision of the judiciary, but was at large. According to a letter from the French bishops’ conference, the now killed clergyman himself housed the alleged perpetrator.
The man from the East African country Rwanda had worked as a volunteer in the diocese until the arson in the cathedral of Nantes, but was threatened with deportation from France. The confessing man hadn’t said anything about his motive in the past year. Parts of the church went up in flames after the arson, the fire destroyed the main organ and damaged windows, among other things.
Nationwide, politicians in France were shocked by the act of violence. The head of the right-wing extremist party Rassemblement National (formerly: Front National), Marine Le Pen, spoke of a state failure. A refugee without a residence permit could remain at large in the country after an arson attack and kill a priest. Interior Minister Darmanin accused Le Pen of creating a mood without knowing the facts. The alleged perpetrator could not be deported as long as he was under the supervision of the judiciary. dpa
