On the night of August 8 to 9, 2021 in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, in Vendée, Father Olivier Maire had succumbed to “violent blows” to the head. The lifeless body of the cleric had been found in the morning, causing great emotion in France and, more particularly, within the Catholic community. A little over a year after the tragedy, the only suspect was indicted for “murder”, announced this Friday the public prosecutor of La Roche sur Yon.
“In accordance with the requisitions of the prosecution, he was placed in pre-trial detention after an adversarial debate before the judge of freedoms and detention”, specifies the magistrate in a press release. Described as psychologically unstable, the suspect, Emmanuel Abayisenga, had surrendered himself to the gendarmerie accusing himself of the crime the day after the murder, had been hospitalized in a psychiatric environment since August 9, 2021.
Also suspected of the cathedral fire
Arrived in France in 2012, this 41-year-old Rwandan is also suspected of having set fire to the cathedral of Nantes, in July 2020, facts of which he was also accused. He was hosted by the congregation of Montfortian fathers, of which Olivier Maire was the provincial father, as part of his judicial review following this fire, pending his trial.
Coming from a family of which several members participated in the Tutsi genocide, Emmanuel Abayisenga saw his request for political asylum rejected, and was subject to a third obligation to leave French territory at the time of his questioning in the ‘fire. This was not executed due to its judicial review.
After his arrival in Loire-Atlantique, Emmanuel Abayisenga, who is part of a sibling of twelve children in a very pious Catholic family, hardly frequented the Rwandan diaspora but participated in the life of the Nantes Catholic community.
The Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti had attended the funeral of the 60-year-old priest, which had gathered dozens of faithful in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre. Pope Francis himself had, at the time, evoked his “pain” after the death of the priest.