the suspect admitted in police custody to a “hatred of foreigners that had become pathological”

William M., the suspected man of killing three Kurds and injuring three others in Paris on Fridaysaid while in police custody that he felt a “hatred of foreigners has become completely pathological”, reported the Paris prosecutor’s office in a press release, Sunday, December 25. The suspect, a 69-year-old Frenchman describing himself ” depressive “ and “suicidal”also clarified that he had “always wanted to murder migrants, foreigners”, ” before [s]to commit suicide”since a burglary suffered in 2016, which he says was the trigger for his racist hatred.

In addition, he told investigators that, on the morning of the attack, he first went to Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) with his weapon. “to commit murders on foreign persons”, according to the prosecution. He finally gave up on this project “given the few people present and because of his dress preventing him from reloading his weapon easily”. A little later, he finally walked to rue d’Enghien, in the 10^e district of Paris. The suspect admitted that he knew that this district housed the Kurdish cultural center Ahmet-Kaya, in front of which he opened fire.

Claiming to resent “to all migrants”he further explained that he had attacked victims he did not know, specifying that he was angry with the Kurds for having “made up of the prisoners during their fight against [l’organisation Etat islamique (EI)] instead of killing them.

He said his only regret was not being able to commit suicide, adding that he always thought that if he ever committed suicide, he “would take enemies to the grave”stating that by “enemies” he heard “all non-European foreigners”.

Hospitalized in psychiatry on Saturday

William M.’s police custody was lifted on Saturday for health reasons, the capital’s prosecutor’s office announced. He was hospitalized in the psychiatric infirmary of the Prefecture of Police. “The doctor who examined the defendant this day at the end of the afternoon declared that the state of health of the person concerned was not compatible with the measure of police custody”underlined the prosecution. “The police custody measure has therefore been lifted, pending his presentation before an investigating judge when his state of health allows it”he added.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution had announced that the racist motive had been added to the investigation. Investigations now focus on acts of assassination, attempted assassination, violence with a weapon and offenses against the legislation on weapons of a racist nature. Based on the first elements of the investigation and the statements of the sexagenarian, the prosecution considered that the facts had been committed “because of the victims’ membership or non-membership, real or supposed, of an alleged specific race, ethnic group, nation or religion”. “The addition of this circumstance does not modify the maximum penalty incurred, which remains life imprisonment”said the prosecution.

William M. is known to justice for three cases. He had been sentenced for the first time, in 2017, to six months in prison suspended for possession of prohibited weapons. In June 2022, he was again sentenced to twelve months in prison for acts of violence with a weapon committed in 2016, a conviction which he appealed.

Released from pretrial detention on December 12

He was mainly indicted for acts of violence with a racist weapon which echo this killing. On December 8, 2021, he is suspected of having gone with a saber to a camp occupied by migrants, located in the 12^e district of Paris. The man, who has not yet been tried for these facts, allegedly then injured two people with sabers and damaged six tentsbefore being injured by the victims, who tried to disarm him.

After a year in pre-trial detention, he was released on December 12, as required by law, and placed under judicial supervision, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

Three people, a woman and two men, were killed on Friday, a man was seriously injured and two others less seriously, according to a latest report.

According to Agit Polat, spokesperson for the CDKF, the woman is Emine Kara, head of the Kurdish Women’s Movement of France. She had fought and campaigned for thirty years in the four parts of Kurdistan: in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. According to Berivan Firat, another CDKF spokesperson, Emine Kara had taken part in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) organization, arms in hand, during the reconquest of Rakka by Kurdish forces supported by the international coalition. She had since requested political asylum in France and had been refused refugee status by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra), a decision which she had appealed.

The two men are Mir Perwer, a Kurdish singer and political refugee in France, and Abdulrahman Kizil, an old regular at the Ahmet-Kaya cultural center.