Five years after the tragedy, the attacker of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption basilica in Nice, who fatally stabbed three people, will be tried before the Special Assize Court of Paris next year.
Confirming information from Le Figaro, AFP indicates that Brahim Aouissaoui will appear for “assassinations and attempted assassinations in relation to a terrorist enterprise” between February 10 and 28, 2025.
Three people murdered
On the night of September 19 to 20, 2020, the Tunisian, then aged 24, left the city of Sfax in Tunisia aboard a boat carrying around ten people.
Without informing his family, he arrived at Nice station on October 27 after stopping in Lampedusa and Sicily.
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Nice Basilica attack: a police officer explains the course of the attack which killed 3 people
Two days later, the man who worked as a gasoline seller on the black market in Tunisia went to the Nice basilica armed with a knife.
Brahim Aouissaoui first fatally stabbed Nadine Devillers, a 60-year-old faithful, before attacking Simone Barreto Silva, 44.
This Franco-Brazilian mother took refuge in a restaurant before dying.
Continuing his macabre journey, the young Tunisian killed sexton Vincent Loquès, 55, father of two daughters.
The attack had painfully affected the city, four years after the attack on the Promenade des Anglais which left 86 dead there in 2016.
Vincent was the sacristan of the #NotreDame de l'Assomption basilica.
This Nice resident is one of the three victims of the #Nice attack > https://t.co/Z7MhZ9CQzC pic.twitter.com/X6mfrVPzIJ
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) October 29, 2020
Brahim Aouissaoui claims to have forgotten the facts
Facing the police patrol during their intervention in the basilica, the suspect shouted “Allah akbar” before receiving a bullet.
It was when he woke up after a stay in intensive care and two surgeries that the young man assured that he had forgotten the facts.
Throughout the procedure, he maintained this version.
Also read: Attack in Nice: France hit again by horror
Last September, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) made its final indictment.
According to the public prosecutor, the young Tunisian acted in a premeditated manner - which is why he is accused of murder - but as a "lone wolf".
While several of them congratulated Brahim Aouissaoui for his act, no jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Photographs relating to” Daesh were found in the accused’s phone, including a portrait of the teacher’s killer Samuel Paty.
The prosecution also reported that an audio message describing France as a “country of disbelievers” had been found in his phone, a few weeks after the tragedy.