The suspect, who killed a 19-year-old and injured 8 other people in Villeurbanne, said he heard voices ordering him to kill.

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PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP

The attack left one dead and eight injured on August 31, 2019 at the exit of the Laurent-Bonnevay metro station in Villeurbanne.

The perpetrator, a 34-year-old Afghan, had been indicted for "assassination and attempted assassinations".

At the end of a collective meeting on September 9 at the courthouse in Lyon in the presence of thirteen victims who are civil parties and a series of individual hearings, a third psychiatric expertise was requested for the author of the attack.

The two investigating judges ordered a collegial expertise.

Two previous expertises on his mental health have given divergent opinions.

Two different diagnoses

In December 2019, a first expert report had reported a “deterioration of the understanding” of the author of the attack.

A diagnosis that would allow it to be brought before the courts.

On this date, the psychiatrist Natalie Giloux had noted "schizophrenic disorders" with "hallucinatory syndrome".

In particular, she considered that her mental disorders had been accentuated by heavy cannabis use.

In June, his colleague Jean Canterino had diagnosed schizophrenia with delirium of persecution, with a religious theme, having caused “the abolition of discernment” of the author at the time of the facts.

In such a case, the accused cannot be tried.

Towards "a symbolic audience"?

Born in Afghanistan, Sultan N. says he traveled through Pakistan and Iran before going to Europe.

He stayed in several European countries before arriving in France in 2016. The man had indicated to be plagued by visual and auditory hallucinations for several years, persuaded to have been "poisoned in England".

This August 31, 2019, during the aggression in Villeurbanne, he had made remarks of a religious nature, but the investigators had not found any element of complicity and the case had not been entrusted to the anti-terrorism pole of Paris.

"If he is declared irresponsible at the end of the judicial investigation, a symbolic hearing may take place in the investigation chamber, but it is not easy to accept for the victims who have the impression that he is not penalized for what he has done ”, reacted Frédéric Lalliard, lawyer for two civil parties.

Contacted, the defender of the aggressor did not wish to speak.

"For the sake of the victims," ​​explained Me Thibaud Claus.

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  • Justice

  • Police

  • Investigation

  • Villeurbanne

  • Lyon

  • Stab

  • Terrorist attack