The arsonist of the cathedral of Nantes, in July 2020, was sentenced, Wednesday March 29, to four years in prison by the criminal court of the city. The court held an alteration in the discernment of this man at the time of the events. 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.
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. Mr. Abayisenga, who was psychologically fragile, was being prosecuted for “degradation and destruction of the property of others by a means dangerous for people”.
His lawyer, Meriem Abkoui, who had argued for the abolition of discernment at the time of the fire, believes however that “the question of his criminal responsibility remains”. “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. Mr. 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.
“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 the prosecutor, Véronique Wester-Ouisse, stressing that the cathedral of Nantes, which was “deeply degraded”represented “our common heritage”.
With an emaciated and very weakened face, Mr. Abayisenga, 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 acknowledged the facts, 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. “I regret what happened”added the defendant, before asking « pardon ».
Obligation to leave the territory
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 of the State, owner of the building, quantifies the whole of the damage to more than 40 million euros.
On his life journey in Rwanda, Mr. Abayisenga described a childhood ” no problem ” surrounded by his parents and his eleven brothers and sisters. He clarified that his father had not been murdered before his eyes in 1996, as mentioned in his asylum application file and his 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, refusing to answer specific questions about his past in Rwanda, where he worked as a secretary for the national police.
In France, where he had been staying with Franciscan friars since 2018, he had been involved in many associations (Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, the diocese of Nantes, etc.). He is described by the latter as a volunteer “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 the morning of the fire, Mr. Abayisenga confided his bitterness in the face of his administrative situation and his aggression.
The court spoke at length about the defendant’s physical and mental health concerns, which include hearing problems, incontinence, lung problems and eating disorders. He has also completed several stays in psychiatry and is taking antipsychotic treatments.