The case caused a lot of excitement in Guinea. A young Guinean scholar was fatally assaulted near Rouen on Friday, July 19, by a man of Turkish nationality who has a psychiatric history. The man, born in 1990, "under enhanced curatorship", was arrested and placed in police custody Monday morning.

"It's a little hooligan known for minor offenses, as narcotics," told AFP a police source. "He was identified on the basis of the exploitation of videos and testimonies," said the source, adding that the suspect was from Canteleu, in the suburbs of Rouen, where the attack took place, but no 'lives there more.

The same source, the suspect wore "a jersey Turkish club Galatasaray", an Istanbul football club, at the time of the facts that took place Friday at 20 h 20, shortly before the final of the African Cup of nations (CAN) between Algeria and Senegal.

"This is a racist crime, no doubt, but there is nothing to establish that it is in connection with the CAN final," said the family lawyer, Me Jonas Haddad. "There is nothing to say that he was attacked by an Algerian supporter," he told AFP Monday morning, while some personalities and associations pointed the finger at the Algerian community.

White March Friday in Rouen

Friday night, Mamoudou Barry, teacher-researcher at the University of Rouen-Normandy, was insulted by his attacker, at the bus stop Provence in Canteleu, while he was driving home with his wife , according to relatives of the victim and the lawyer.

"The attacker pointed them out and said: 'You dirty blacks, we're going to fuck you tonight,'" said Kalil Aissata Kéita, research professor at the University of Rouen, also a Guinean and "close friend" " of the victim.

Mamoudou Barry would have got out of his car to ask for explanations. The aggressor "hit him with fists and bottles", then, "the victim fell badly, he lost a lot of blood, someone tried to give him a cardiac massage," explained Haddad . Transported to the University Hospital of Rouen, the university, father of a little girl, died Saturday. A white march is to be held Friday in Rouen, said the lawyer.

Mamoudou Barry, 31, had defended a law thesis on June 27 in Rouen on "tax and customs policies for foreign investment in French-speaking Africa," according to the university's website.

A scent of racism

This deadly aggression had sparked Sunday a cascade of political reactions, right and left. Eric Ciotti (LR) had denounced a "barbarian crime", Olivier Faure (PS) seeing the aggression "racism to cry".

Monday, the Guinean president, Alpha Condé, declared himself "very touched". "The Guinean government is following very closely the progress of investigations carried out by the French authorities," said a statement from the presidency, stating that the head of state "will meet with the French ambassador to Guinea for the follow-up".

The former Guinean Prime Minister and opponent Sidya Toure also said he was "very saddened by the death of the young teacher Mamoudou Barry in such tragic conditions". Senegalese President Macky Sall condemned on Twitter a "heinous crime".

In a statement, SOS Racisme demanded that "all the light" be made, saying that "it floats on this criminal act a scent of racism on which the investigative services must quickly decide".

With AFP