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Police officers at the crime scene in Lyon
Photo: Nicolas Liponne / imago images / Hans Lucas
On Saturday, a stranger shot a Greek Orthodox priest twice in Lyon.
The 52-year-old clergyman was seriously injured.
On the same day, the French police arrested a suspect.
This is now free again.
There are no reasons to further involve him in the investigation, the AFP news agency reported with reference to judicial circles.
The man's state of health is also incompatible with police custody.
The prosecutor has opened an investigation into attempted murder.
So far, the investigations have not been taken over by the anti-terrorist investigators of the French public prosecutor's office.
According to media reports, the investigators do not rule out a reference to terrorism, but political or religious motives appear increasingly unlikely, it said.
It is currently assumed that personal motives could be the reason for the act.
The attack took place on Rue Saint-Lazare in Lyon, not far from a Greek Orthodox church.
The priest is said to have been closing the church at around 4 p.m. at the time of the crime.
According to initial findings, the perpetrator is said to have acted alone.
The victim suffered severe abdominal injuries.
It was only on Thursday that a man attacked several people with a knife in Nice in the south of France, killing at least three.
The investigators assume a terrorist background.
Two weeks ago, the Paris history teacher Samuel Paty was allegedly beheaded by an 18-year-old from Chechnya - apparently because he had discussed a cartoon of Mohammed in class.
The renewed publication of Mohammed caricatures by the satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" has heated up the mood against France in Muslim countries.
In countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, thousands of people took to the streets in anti-French protests.
On January 7, 2015, eleven people were killed in an Islamist-motivated terrorist attack on the editorial staff.
The French government expects further attacks and has thousands of soldiers in schools and religious sites to protect citizens.
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ala / AFP