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Romans-sur-Isère knife attack: suspect "complained about confinement"

2020-04-05T13:12:35.449Z


According to the first hearings of witnesses, and according to our information, Abdallah Ahmed-Osman, the Sudanese refugee who sowed death on Saturday


What happened in the mind of Abdallah Ahmed-Osman for this young Sudanese refugee to commit a blind massacre in 15 minutes? In the aftermath of the bloody attack on Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme), the investigators took depositions enlightening the state of mind of the 33-year-old suspect before his act.

According to sources close to the investigation, a friend of Ahmed-Osman explained that the suspected terrorist "had been complaining about the confinement for a few days". This witness, a 28-year-old Sudanese man, was arrested on Saturday while he was in the attacker's apartment in Romans-sur-Isère and then placed in police custody. Resident in Valence, he claims to have had no knowledge of his friend's criminal plan.

VIDEO. Romans-sur-Isère: at least two dead and five injured in a knife attack

Her testimony corroborates that of a tobacconist from Romans. It was in his establishment that Abdallah Ahmed-Osman began his murderous journey, seriously wounding the husband of the tobacconist with a notch, then more lightly the latter as she tried to intervene. The suspect was a regular customer of this tobacco bar and regularly came to buy cigarettes.

To the police, the tobacconist said he had noticed a change in behavior in the young Sudanese. "The word that comes up most often in the first depositions is embittered . The suspect was visibly disturbed by the confinement, "said a close investigator. Heard, neighbors of Abdallah Ahmed-Osman said that the suspect had started to play sports "on the stairs of the building in the days before the attack.

Was the suspect taken madly? Did he hide jihadist impulses? No witness has been able to shed light on Abdallah Ahmed-Osman's report to religion at this stage. No letter of claim or allegiance to any terrorist organization has been found, but the suspect's computer media is in use.

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Only a few documents written in the Arabic language were seized in his apartment, in which Ahmed-Osman lies his hatred of living "in a country of unbelievers". According to the intervening police, the suspect was praying at the time of his arrest. The witnesses interviewed said, however, that they had not particularly observed religious sectarianism in this young Sudanese, who arrived in France in 2016 and has been granted refugee status since June 2017. His friend even "fell in love" when he learned of his abuses.

"He is not at all in a state of dementia"

This Sunday, Abdallah Ahmed-Osman must be transferred to the premises of the Anti-Terrorism Sub-Directorate (SDAT) in Levallois-Perret to continue his hearing. For the time being, according to our information, the young man answers the questions of the investigators on his course, but has not yet been questioned on the facts. A psychiatric report was requested during his police custody. "But he is not at all in a state of dementia," we slip into the circles of the investigation.

In addition to Abdallah Ahmed-Osman and his friend, a third man was placed in police custody this Sunday. Also a Sudanese national, he is a close friend of the suspect and lived in the same building in Romans. According to the town hall of Moras-en-Valloire, the presumed terrorist also lived in this neighboring village in communal housing from September 2018 to January 2020. Accompanied by state services and Catholic aid, the refugee worked in leather goods after following a professionalization contract and training with the National Agency for Professional Training of Adults (AFPA) in Romans-sur-Isère.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing, foreshadowed the foul act of which he would be the author this morning," insisted the town hall of Moras-en-Valloire in a statement published on Saturday evening. And to insist: "The horror of this day must not erase the history of solidarity in our village nor allow amalgamation. There is no monster hidden behind each refugee of yesterday or tomorrow. "

Investigators went to this small village on Saturday to collect testimony. The investigations are now conducted under the authority of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) which has opened an open investigation for "terrorist assassination and attempted assassination".

Source: leparis

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