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The prosecutor's office in Rouen has seized the investigation, the authorities claim that "investigations are ongoing" (illustrative image). National Police

On the evening of Friday, July 19, Mamoudou Barry was savagely assaulted, under the eyes of his wife, near Rouen. This 31-year-old Guinean academic will finally succumb to his injuries the next day at the hospital. Contacted by RFI, his relatives say it is a racist aggression, which do not confirm the investigators at this stage.

" Nobody expected this brutal and brutal disappearance, I can not yet realize he's gone. With deep distress, Lamine Kaba accuses the blow. After meeting Mamoudou Barry in 2012 at the Faculty of Law, in the association of Guinean students in Rouen, he is now an intimate friend of the family. " Every year we had an appointment for the end of Ramadan, at home or at home. I know his mother, he knew my mother, "he recalls. Alerted in the night, Lamine spent the day Saturday at the hospital, where her comrade was driven in emergency before finally succumbing to her injuries.

► See also: A Guinean scholar died in France after an assault

Racist remarks by an always wanted aggressor

On the spot, the wife of Mamoudou Barry, direct witness of the events tells him the scene. An attack according to her very violent, against a backdrop of racism. " In fact, she told us what she told the police when the investigators went to the hospital on Saturday morning, which her husband's abuser said. It was racist, I confirm, "says Lamine Kaba.

A version of the facts that the wife of the victim also reported to Aly Thieran, president of the Association of Guineans of Normandy. " Mr. Barry had gone to get his wife at the bus stop right behind her building, because she was carrying too heavy a race for them," he says. Once in the car, a person who was there insults saying "dirty black". The Guinean university then leaves his vehicle " to reason the individual ", but it is a rain of blows that awaits him, then death. The assailant, he is still wanted by the French police. " We are all collapsed, there is not even a word because it is a complete waste, both for the Guinean people and for France, " Aly Thieran concludes.

A great loss for the scientific community

Contacted by RFI, Professor Adam Abdou Hassan has no shortage of praise either: " Mamoudou was a very humble, very upright person and a person who had a very promising future ahead of him ". The two men were friends and colleagues at the University of Rouen Center for Legal Studies, but also at the Thinking Africa Institute for Peace Research in Africa.

Ironically, Mamoudou Barry had just completed his studies, it was on June 27 that he defended his thesis on "tax and customs policies for foreign investment in Francophone Africa." A title of Doctor won brilliantly, as greeted by Adam Abdou Hassan: " Since May 25, 2016, in French universities, mentions concerning doctoral theses have been removed. On the other hand, unanimously of the jury, so exceptionally, it was decided to grant to Mamoudou Barry the mention "very honorable", with the congratulations of the jury ".

According to his colleague, the jury even said that it was one of only, if not " the essential specialist in his field ." The University of Rouen-Normandie has also reacted in a statement signed by its President Joel Alexandre. He greets a man " overflowing with projects [which], by his work, forced the admiration of his colleagues and students ".

Call for vigilance on social media information

However, whatever the shock wave caused by the news, the relatives of Mamoudou Barry regret a form of misinformation and recovery around this case. Although the aggression took place on the evening of the football CAN final between Senegal and Algeria, there is nothing at this stage to determine the nationality of the aggressor.

" We want to inform the entire African community, Guinean and others, not to amalgam, " says Aly Thieran. "You know," he continues, " in France, we easily recover events. That is why we made a communique with the family and the association of the Guineans of Normandy, so that people pay attention to the information diffused today at the level of the social networks ".

The close friend of the Barry family, Lamine Kaba, agrees, " people really must not get lost, at the moment, we still do not know the nationality of this individual. All we know is that his skin is dark . The Rouen public prosecutor's office is seized of the file. " The investigations are ongoing. The hearings and verifications should make it possible to specify the progress of the facts "declared the prosecutor Pascal Prache. And this is good because for the entourage of the Guinean university, it is now up to the French justice to shed light on this case.