Abdelmasih H., born on 1 October 1991 in Syria and a national of that country, had been granted refugee status in Sweden, where he had resided since 2013. International protection under the Geneva Convention was granted on April 26, according to a source at the Ministry of the Interior.
He was married to a Swedish woman, whom he divorced last year and with whom he has a child, now three years old. According to his ex-wife, he had left Sweden because he could not obtain Swedish citizenship. Arrived in France last year, he was "homeless," according to Annecy prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis.