The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Vendée: what we know about the murder of a priest in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre

2021-08-09T13:41:59.180Z


A Rwandan refugee went to the gendarmerie on Monday morning, claiming to have killed the religious who had been hosting him for a few months.


This Monday, the body of a priest was found in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, in Vendée.

The same day, a man went to the gendarmerie to confess the murder.

What happened ?

This Monday morning, the body of a man was discovered in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, about fifteen kilometers from Cholet, in Vendée.

In the middle of the morning, according to Valeurs Actuelles, a man presented himself to the gendarmerie of Mortagne-sur-Sèvre (just over six kilometers from Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre) claiming to have killed the man of the Church .

According to our information, the priest was the victim of a blow to the head.

According to his initial statements, the suspect would not explain his action, but admitted the facts.

The investigation is entrusted to the gendarmerie group of Vendée and the research section of the gendarmerie of Nantes.

Who is the victim ?

Also according to the weekly Valeurs Actuelles, the victim would be Olivier Maire, a 60-year-old priest.

As AFP specifies, he was a member of the religious community of Montfortians in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre and for several months had hosted the alleged perpetrator of his assassination.

According to Vincent Neymon, Deputy Secretary General of the Conference of Bishops of France, Olivier Maire was the national leader for France of this congregation, present in about thirty countries, and particularly oriented towards charity and hospitality.

Who is the man who surrendered?

According to several sources - and a confirmation, in hollow, of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on Twitter - it is Emmanuel A., a Rwandan already accused of having set fire to Nantes cathedral in July 2020, while 'he had been a volunteer in the city diocese for three years. A few days after the events, he admitted to the examining magistrate "having lit (...) three fireplaces". He was first placed in pre-trial detention before being released under judicial supervision.

According to an investigation by La Croix, Emmanuel A. is a Rwandan who came to take refuge in France eight years ago.

He comes from a Hutu family, some of whose members may have taken part in the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994. His father was also executed in reprisal when he returned to his village of origin.

Emmanuel A. would have been able to continue to live normally, but would have suffered violence when he became a police officer in Rwanda.

A few years after his arrival in France, he was refused his asylum application - because the Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons considered that "in the event of return to his country, it is not proven that he would be the victim of persecution, ”reports La Croix - and ended up receiving four obligations to leave French territory (OQTF).

Why is the personality of the alleged perpetrator controversial?

Very quickly after the death of the priest was made public, the president of the RN, Marine Le Pen, created controversy over the status of the alleged assassin.

"In France, we can therefore be illegal, burn the cathedral of Nantes, never be expelled, and repeat by murdering a priest," she rebelled on Twitter.

What indignity!

Rather than expressing her compassion to the Catholics who welcomed this murderer, Madame le Pen argues without knowing the facts: this foreigner was not deportable despite his deportation order as long as his judicial control was not lifted.

https://t.co/eZh3r4OdJr

- Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) August 9, 2021

The Minister of the Interior was quickly outraged by this reaction of "indignity" and above all provided a sizeable clarification: "This foreigner was not deportable despite his deportation order as long as his judicial control did not. was not up ”.

What are the reactions?

After having brought "all (his) support to the Catholics of our country", Gérald Darmanin announced to go to the scene of the tragedy, where he should arrive in the afternoon.

Many political figures, especially on the right, reacted after this assassination.

The president of the LRs in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau, paid tribute to this man whom he "knew (t) well".

"His death testifies to the kindness of this priest," he added.

The Deputy Secretary General of the Conference of Bishops of France, Vincent Neymon, expressed his "amazement and deep sadness".

I want to pay tribute to Father Olivier Maire, superior of the Montfortians murdered by a criminal he was sheltering out of charity.

His death testifies to the kindness of this priest whom I knew well and whose depth of faith I had been able to appreciate.

His death is a great loss pic.twitter.com/NbH1KogPvR

- Bruno Retailleau (@BrunoRetailleau) August 9, 2021

The right-wing primary candidate for the presidential election, Valérie Pécresse (Libres, ex-LR), said she was “upset”, while Xavier Bertrand (ex-LR), also a candidate in 2022, announced his "fear" after this assassination "which strikes the hearts of Catholics a few days before the Assumption."

Source: leparis

All tech articles on 2021-08-09

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.