The arsonist of the cathedral of Nantes in 2020 was sentenced this Wednesday March 29 to four years in prison by the criminal court of the city, which retained an alteration of the discernment of this man at the time of the facts.
Nantes cathedral fire: what happened
The public prosecutor had requested six years in prison if the alteration of discernment was retained and eight years in the opposite case against Emmanuel Abayisenga, 42, of Rwandan nationality.
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The court added to the conviction a ban on carrying a weapon and on staying in the Loire-Atlantique department for a period of five years.
The man, psychologically fragile, was prosecuted for degradation and destruction of the property of others by a means dangerous for people.
“A vast anger and a sense of revenge”
His lawyer, Maître Meriem Abkoui, who had pleaded for the abolition of discernment at the time of the fire, nevertheless believes that “the question of his criminal responsibility remains”.
Nantes cathedral fire: what we know about the volunteer who confessed
“There are a lot of hazards in his answers which sometimes lack coherence”, she said after the judgment, saying she was waiting for the results of the psychiatric expertise in another procedure. Emmanuel Abayisenga is indeed indicted for the assassination of Father Olivier Maire in August 2021 in Vendée. His trial could be held at the end of 2024 according to his lawyer.
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“It is indeed a vast anger and a feeling of revenge linked to his administrative situation which is at the origin of this conscious and methodical firing”argued prosecutor Véronique Wester-Ouisse.
40 million euros in damage
Dressed in a red jacket, his face emaciated, very weakened, the defendant who arrived in France in 2012 and has volunteered for the diocese of Nantes since 2016, was allowed to remain seated in his box to answer questions from the president of the court.
He admitted the facts at the start of the hearing, explaining that he had gone to the cathedral in the early morning to pray in order to “find peace” but that he then had “lost control” passing in front of a part of the building where he had suffered a violent attack on December 31, 2018.
“Since that day, I regret what happened”added Emmanuel Abayisenga, who spoke sometimes in French and sometimes in the Rwandan language, assisted by an interpreter. “I wanted to give my contribution to the country that welcomed me but it didn’t happen that way”he added before asking « pardon ».
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The three sources of fire lit in the cathedral completely destroyed the great organ dating from 1619, the keyboard of the choir organ and an 1836 painting by Flandrin representing Saint-Clair curing the blind. The lawyer for the State, owner of the building, quantifies the whole of the damage at more than 40 million euros.
Several health and psychiatric concerns
The examination of the defendant’s personality proved to be complex. On his life journey in Rwanda, he described a childhood “without problems” surrounded by her parents and 11 siblings. He clarified that his father had not been murdered before his eyes in 1996, as indicated in his asylum application file and previous declarations, but would have died of ” disease “. “It is a file that smugglers made for me so that I could obtain papers”he explained.
In France, where he had been staying with Franciscan friars since 2018, he had been involved in many associations which described him as “helpful, discreet and efficient”. His asylum applications were never successful.
A new obligation to leave the territory issued in November 2019 would have deeply ” disturbed “. In an email sent to all his contacts, at 4:58 a.m. on the day of the cathedral fire, he confided his bitterness in the face of his administrative situation and his aggression.
The court discussed at length the health concerns of the defendant, who suffers in particular from hearing problems, incontinence, lung problems and eating disorders. He also made several stays in psychiatry.
