This Saturday noon, the anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office had not taken up the file of the shooting which killed three people on Friday in the center of Paris. Last night, he indicated to remain in observation of the situation according to the statements of the suspect.
Some denounce “a heinous act”, others evoke “an attack” or “a terrorist attack”. The day after the shooting that killed three people on Friday in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, the investigation is still ongoing. Three people were also injured, one seriously, but their lives are no longer in danger.
The man suspected of having opened fire on several signs of the Kurdish community on rue d’Enghien described himself, during his arrest, as “racist”, we learned from concordant sources, confirming information from the JDD. According to information from BFMTV, he also told the police that he wanted to attack the Kurdish community.
The former SNCF railway worker, retired for 18 years, was already known for violence. He is suspected of having stabbed two migrants in Paris in January 2021 and was convicted last June for acts of violence with weapons committed in 2016. He appealed this decision on July 8.
The racist motive retained
His custody of the suspect was extended by 24 hours, and the prosecution retained the racist motive in the investigation.
If an investigation is opened for assassinations, attempted assassinations and violence with weapons, of which the criminal brigade and the judicial police of Paris are in charge, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) has not taken up the case. This is why the fatal attack cannot be qualified, in the press or legally, as an “attack” or a terrorist act.
The Ministry of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin indicated on Friday that “the killer had obviously acted alone”. “He was not known to the intelligence services, nor the DGSI, nor the Paris intelligence department, nor the territorial intelligence, nor the prison intelligence services for radicalization,” he told the press. .
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office had explained last night to BFMTV to be observing the situation, to assess whether it is resuming the investigation. In particular according to what the suspect will say during the hearing, and the elements that will be found concerning him.
“There is every reason to think that the terrorist qualification must be retained”
Me Mourad Battikh, lawyer at the Paris bar and specialist in criminal law, however explained on the set of BFMTV Friday evening, the ambiguity of this situation. “Today, article 421-1 of the Penal Code tells us that a terrorist qualification can be retained from the moment when an individual or collective enterprise aims to disturb public order through terror”, recalls- he.
“However, what we know from the file is that there is a serious disturbance of public order by terror since he tried to terrorize individuals in a public situation. And when we look at the background of the individual, there is every reason to think that the terrorist qualification must be retained”.
Thus, according to the lawyer, whether the attack is racist or not does not determine whether the attack is terrorist. “The only qualification that makes it possible to legally qualify the attack as terrorist is the will of an individual or a collective to seriously disturb public order”.
For its part, the Kurdish community maintains that it is indeed a terrorist attack. The spokesperson for CDKF, Berivan Firat, assured this Saturday morning that “the Kurdish community was directly targeted. This is why we refuse to qualify it as a racist act. We maintain and we say that it is an act terrorist.”
“For us, there is no doubt that these are political assassinations orchestrated by Turkey. of the meeting held at the Paris police headquarters.
“The time and day of the attack are not trivial”
The association of the Kurdish democratic council thus affirms that the shooter did not act by chance. “The time and the day of the attack are not insignificant. This Friday, the Kurdish women’s movement had a meeting to organize the commemoration actions of January 9, 2013”. Date on which three women, Kurdish activists were murdered in the premises of the information center on Kurdistan rue Lafayette in Paris.
For several weeks, the Kurdish community had been organizing to pay tribute to these three women, ten years after the attack. The alleged perpetrator of these assassinations, Omer Güney died in custody of a brain tumor in 2016 before the assize trial was held.
“In this case a racist attack”
And this debate also inflames the political class since some officials or elected officials in turn designate this terrorist attack. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise talks about “[sa] sadness and [sa] anger at the terrorist attack targeting the Kurdish cultural center Ahmet Kaya in Paris”.
Also on the left, the communist deputy to the town hall of Paris, Ian Brossat wrote yesterday on Twitter: “A guy who kills people who didn’t ask anyone for anything, that’s not called a shooting, that’s called an attack. And in this case a racist attack.”
The environmental deputy Julien Bayou declared this Saturday on BFMTV of a “racist attack. The far right acts with complete impunity”.
The majority preferred to follow the nomenclature of judicial institutions. The President of the Republic affirmed a few hours after the shooting that “the Kurds were the target of an odious attack in the heart of Paris”. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne spoke of “a deadly shooting in Paris”.
