A French court on Wednesday, February 26, sentenced a Tunisian man to life in prison without parole for killing three people with a knife in a church in the southern city of Nice in 2020.
Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, this week admitted he was responsible for the attack but claimed he did not remember exactly what happened. The murderous rampage on October 29, 2020, was one of a number of deadly incidents in France that have been blamed on Islamist radicals since 2015.
According to prosecutors, armed with a kitchen knife, Aouissaoui almost decapitated Nadine Vincent, a 60-year-old worshipper; stabbed 44-year-old French-Brazilian mother Simone Barreto Silva around 25 times; and slit the throat of sacristan Vincent Loques, 55, a father of two daughters. The verdict is in line with requests from prosecutors who had asked for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, the most severe punishment under French law.
Aouissaoui has claimed the killings were "legitimate" revenge for "the West" killing "innocent" Muslims. One of the public prosecutors said earlier on Wednesday the defendant was inhabited by "jihadist ideology."
"It's not terrorism," the accused cried out, prompting his own lawyer to ask him to be quiet.
Aouissaoui was seriously wounded when police shot him after the attack, and previously insisted he did not remember anything at all. But his medical examination did not reveal any brain damage and a psychiatric assessment concluded that there was no impairment of his judgment at the time of the events.
Aouissaoui arrived in Europe from Tunisia the month before the attack, first crossing the Mediterranean to Italy and then going to France overland. On the morning of the attack, Aouissaoui entered the Basilica of Notre-Dame in the heart of Nice, carrying a copy of the Quran, three knives and two mobile phones, according to prosecutors.
He hails from a large family in the Tunisian city of Sfax. His mother said he repaired motorcycles and described how he had taken to prayer in the years before he left. The prosecutors said he had consumed alcohol and smoked cannabis before he became radicalized in late 2018.