Perpetrator remains silent after knife attack in France about motive ‘The brutality of World War II returns’

After the shocking knife attack in France with four injured children and two adult victims, the perpetrator remains silent about his motive. The 31-year-old man was arrested on Saturday for attempted murder. All victims are now out of danger. In the Alpine city of Annecy, hundreds of residents gathered in the park by the lake on Sunday to commemorate where the bloody crime took place on Thursday morning.

“I am convinced that human solidarity, when practiced and expressed, knows no bounds”, said the mayor of Annecy, François Astorg, in a speech thanking the helpers. It’s about choosing the future and not tearing it down and building it up instead of hating it.

As prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said on Saturday, the perpetrator remained silent in police custody and before the coroner. According to broadcaster BFMTV, the man has been placed in a specially guarded cell for his own protection. There he was silent about the bloody events. As the prosecutor said, there was still no evidence of a terrorist background. The man was examined psychiatrically, there were no indications of delusions.

There are also some indications of psychological problems in the perpetrator. A young man who was in custody at the same time as the perpetrator testified that he had screamed, cried, also said religious things and rolled on the floor, This was reported by the broadcaster France Info on Sunday. The perpetrator refused to go to the investigating judge on Saturday. Television footage showed officers carrying him to the police car in a hospital chair. However, the psychiatrists saw him able to submit to interrogation and take pre-trial detention. No traces of alcohol or drugs were found.

As the prosecutor said, according to witness statements, the man spoke about his wife and daughter and about Jesus Christ during the crime. The Syrian was wearing a cross and two Christian photos, cash and a driver’s license were also found with him. It was previously said that the perpetrator was a Christian Syrian. A pocket knife was also found with him, the only weapon used in the murder. After the crime, the man was followed by bystanders in a playground in Annecy Park and then overpowered by police.

While the perpetrator remains silent, the detectives now focus their investigation on his life and his living conditions. The prosecutor said the man fled Syria to Sweden in 2013, where he was granted asylum and later married. He has a three-year-old daughter and last year he divorced his wife. In May 2022 he traveled to Italy and Switzerland and came to France in the fall, where he applied for asylum. This was rejected because Sweden had already recognized it. He received the rejection decision four days before the crime. In Annecy, he lived as a homeless person in house entrances, according to the police, there was nothing against him. (saw/sda/dpa)