Paris (AFP)

Emmanuel Macron pays tribute Tuesday to the four officials of the Paris police headquarters killed by their radicalized colleague, an unprecedented attack that continues to cause questions and criticism against the Minister of the Interior.

The Head of State, accompanied by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Ministers of Justice Nicole Belloubet and the Armies Florence Parly, will deliver a speech at 11:00 am in the courtyard of the prefecture, where was shot Mickaël Harpon, employee as a computer scientist .

Previously, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner will posthumously award the Legion of Honor to the four victims, including a woman. The trainee police officer who killed the 45-year-old assailant will also be decorated but at a later date.

The decree appointing to the rank of knight of the Legion of Honor Damien Ernest, major responsible for a police unit with 28 years of service, Anthony Lancelot, guardian of peace with 11 years of service, Brice Le Mescam , Senior Administrative Assistant with 6 years of service, and Aurélia Trifiro, Peacekeeper with 17 years of seniority, was published Tuesday in the Official Journal.

This solemn tribute will offer only a short respite to Christophe Castaner, auditioned in camera before the ceremony by the parliamentary delegation to intelligence and in the afternoon by the National Assembly's Committee on the Laws, this time before the hurry. The Senate Law Commission will question him on Thursday.

"Our mission of control of the action of the government aims to determine what has not worked, what are the malfunctions that have unfortunately allowed such a tragedy," said Monday on BFMTV Senator Christian Cambon, chairman of the parliamentary delegation to intelligence.

Since the attack, many voices denounce the negligence of the authorities and seek to understand how Mickaël Harpon was able to go under radar when he had shown signs of radicalization within the leadership of the intelligence of the PP (DRPP ) where he was employed.

Opposition, right and extreme right, cries "state scandal" and demands the departure of the tenant of the Place Beauvau. A resignation that excluded Christophe Castaner while recognizing a "state dysfunction".

- "Automatic reporting" -

According to an internal report from the DRPP, Mickael Harpon, who was a defense lawyer, reportedly told two colleagues "it's well done" about the January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo, but they did not transmit written report to their superiors.

"There was no warning at the right level, at the right time," the minister said, adding that "the warning signals should have been sufficient to trigger an in-depth investigation", while the assailant had been converting to Islam for about ten years and was dating members of the "Islamist Salafist" movement.

Two administrative inquiries entrusted to the General Intelligence Inspectorate were opened by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to understand these flaws in Mr Harpon's follow-up.

Without waiting for the conclusions, Christopher Castaner tried to extinguish the controversy by asking that any alert related to radicalization is now "the subject of an automatic report", without further details.

On the front of the investigation led by the anti-terrorist services, the wife of Mickaël Harpon was released Sunday evening after three days in custody, without being pursued at this stage.

The investigators were looking for possible incriminating evidence of the mother of two who had worried about her husband's "unusual and agitated behavior" the day before the attack and had exchanged 33 text messages with him on the morning.

In addition to searching for possible accomplices in radical circles, the investigators try to clarify the nature of the information to which the attacker could have access to the prefecture, where he worked since 2003.

According to Le Parisien, the investigators found at his home a USB key containing Islamic State propaganda videos and contact information for colleagues. According to a source close to the survey questioned by AFP, computer elements were being exploited.

Secretary of State for the Interior Laurent Nuñez dismissed "at this stage" the hypothesis that he was part of a jihadist cell.

© 2019 AFP