Emmanuel A. went to the gendarmerie to confess the death of a clergyman.
He was waiting to be tried for the fire in Nantes cathedral a year earlier.
In France since 2012, his asylum requests had been rejected.
A priest belonging to the Congregation of the Montfort Missionaries was found dead in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, east of the Vendée.
A man presented himself this Monday morning to the gendarmerie, declaring himself responsible for the crime.
The 40-year-old suspect is far from unknown to justice.
He had indeed admitted almost a year ago to be the author of the fire of the Saint-Pierre cathedral in Nantes, which occurred on July 18, 2020.
He was indicted on July 26, 2020 for destruction and willful damage by fire.
After spending ten months in pre-trial detention, he was finally released, under judicial supervision, last June, pending trial.
He had been staying with the priest ever since, not far from Cholet (Maine-et-Loire).
An obligation to leave the territory
Of Rwandan nationality, Emmanuel A. arrived in France in 2012 after having fled his native country, Rwanda, where he said he was in danger. This very pious man had integrated into the Christian community of Nantes and lived in a home with other members of the clergy. He had become one of the volunteers in charge of missions within the cathedral of Nantes, in particular that of closing the doors. As soon as he arrived in France, he had taken many steps to obtain asylum, but all had been rejected, despite the support of the diocese. He was subject to an obligation to leave French territory since 2019.
On the morning of July 18, 2020, he was suspected of having deliberately set fire to three separate places in the cathedral using a flammable product. After having denied during a first interrogation, the volunteer had been "relieved" to admit the fire, according to his lawyer Quentin Chabert, who then mentioned a man "cooperating"
The individual, who was marked by the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, was described a year ago as "courteous", "gentle" but "closed in on himself" and in "despair" because of his administrative situation.
Emmanuel A., himself, had sent to the diocese of Nantes at the beginning of 2019 a "cry of distress", judging himself in "a deplorable vicious circle".
He said, moreover, to have been the victim a few days earlier of an assault in front of the cathedral, an event which would have weakened his mental health.
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Church
Rwanda
Crime
Cathedral
Society
Nantes