• Brahim Aouissaoui "had announced his intention to come to Paris, but he had no money," said a source close to the investigation.

  • Messages sent by telephone by the assailant of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption basilica show that he had to change his plans.

His initial plan did not concern Nice.

The assailant of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption basilica, who killed three people with a knife on October 29, 2020 on the Côte d'Azur, planned to go to Paris to carry out an attack.

Brahim Aouissaoui, a 22-year-old Tunisian, "had announced his intention to come to Paris, but he had no money," said a source close to the investigation, confirming information from BFMTV.

"His initial goal was to go to Paris," according to messages found on his phone, also explained a judicial source.

According to extracts revealed by the continuous news channel, the assailant wrote to a friend in particular on the evening of October 25 from Rome: "Tomorrow I will leave for France, the country of the disbelievers and the dogs".

"A fallback solution"

He left Tunisia by boat on September 19.

After passing through Italy, he arrived in Nice on the evening of October 27.

The next day, he says: "I'm still in Nice, I want to come where you are, to the Eiffel Tower, but the ticket is 150 euros".

Then: “The ticket is too expensive.

I am here until God makes it easy for me ”.

On the morning of October 29, he finally took action, killing two faithful and the sacristan of the Basilica of Nice with a knife, before being injured by municipal police officers.

"He wanted to hit Paris, Nice was a fallback because he did not have enough money", noted Me Samia Maktouf.

The lawyer of the sacristan's family doubts that "from the depths of his Tunisian countryside", Brahim Aouissaoui decided, alone, "to go and strike the Eiffel Tower in Paris" and thinks that he was "remotely guided".

He "disputes everything" and evokes "an amnesia"

Hospitalized in Nice then transferred to an establishment in the Paris region, Brahim Aouissaoui was indicted in December for “assassinations” and “attempted assassinations” in connection with a terrorist enterprise.

For the moment, the investigations, entrusted since November to anti-terrorism judges, have not established that he has received support, material or ideological.

"The people he had contacted in Paris were heard", but were not implicated, said the source close to the case.

During his hearings, Brahim Aouissaoui "disputes everything", according to the judicial source, and advances "an amnesia", specified Me Samia Maktouf.

Society

A photo of the killer of the teacher Samuel Paty found in the phone of the attacker of the basilica of Nice

Society

A man armed with a knife arrested at the hospital where he wanted to "slaughter" the assailant in Nice to "do justice"

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