Monday, August 9, Emmanuel Abayisenga presented himself to the gendarmerie of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, in Vendée, to accuse himself of the murder of the priest Olivier Maire.

This man, 40 years old and of Rwandan origin, is not unknown to the courts: in July 2020, he had already admitted to being responsible for the fire in the Nantes cathedral. 

The suspect was immediately taken into custody before it was lifted on Monday evening for "incompatibility with his state of health".

In the process, he was interned in psychiatry. 

While an investigation has been opened for "intentional homicide" and entrusted to the prosecutor's office in La Roche-sur-Yon, the profile of the suspect is gradually becoming clearer.

The first elements, resulting from the investigation into the fire of the cathedral of Nantes, reveal a fervent Catholic, marked by the genocide in Rwanda and in the grip of serious psychological disorders.

In the community of Montfortians of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre in Vendée, where the death of Provincial Superior Olivier Maire was experienced as a "shock", some describe Emmanuel Abayisenga as a discreet person. 

"Emmanuel was not doing anything in particular. He ate and participated in the Eucharist. He could hear badly", due to hearing problems, Father Jean-Baptiste Dombélé told AFP.

"There was no problem. He was not talking about the cathedral. It was Olivier who was closest to him, who took care of him for everything."

Marked by the genocide in Rwanda

Emmanuel Abayisenga arrived in France in 2012. According to the newspaper La Croix, which devoted a long investigation to him published on July 15, he comes from a Hutu family.

His father died summarily executed when he was 15 years old.

At the age of 24, while he was an officer in the Rwandan judicial police, he fled the country and took refuge in France.

"He was 12 or 13 years old at the time of the genocide, he did not take part in it, but it was the first trauma in his life," explains Héloïse de Neuville, journalist at the origin of this investigation, on BFMTV.

A devout Catholic

Coming from a family of 12 children, in a very pious Catholic family, Emmanuel Abayisenga quickly found refuge with the Catholic community of Nantes.

Since 2018, he has been housed in the Franciscan convent where he has a hotline.

In 2020, he is a volunteer in the city's diocese, in particular in charge of the closing of the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral. 

On the morning of July 18, 2020, when large flames escaped from the building, ravaging part of the premises, suspicion quickly turned to him.

A week later, he confesses. 

In front of the investigators, Emmanuel Abayisenga justifies his gesture by a great psychological distress.

Living under the threat of expulsion, he had shortly before sent a "cry of distress" to the diocese of Nantes, in which he explained that he was "in a deplorable vicious circle". 

Refused asylum requests

His administrative career, motivated by the desire to become a political refugee, was indeed marked by failures.

"The Interior Ministry and Ofpra refused his asylum request," said Gérald Darmanin, who came to Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre on Monday.

"This person has been the subject of three deportation orders at the border since his arrival on the national territory illegally in 2012", explained the Minister of the Interior. 

To some Nantes friends, Emmanuel Abayisenga confided in the reasons for his departure from his native country.

He explained that he had suffered acts of torture of incredible violence because of his belonging to the Hutu ethnic group and had the consequences.

In January 2015, Ofpra refused him protection from France, considering that if he returned to his country, it had not been proven that he would be a victim of persecution.

"The fact that Ofpra questioned the veracity of his story created enormous confusion for him," explained one of his friends from Nantes to La Croix.

He appealed against this decision to the National Court of Asylum Law (CNDA), which in turn rejected him.

Why was he not expelled?

The drama, Monday, was immediately the subject of political controversy, eight months before the presidential election.

The president of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen, reacted immediately on Twitter, seeing in this assassination the "complete bankruptcy of the State and of Gerald Darmanin", denouncing the fact that its author was not expelled after the Nantes fire.

In France, we can therefore be illegal, burn the cathedral of #Nantes, never be expelled, and repeat by murdering a priest.



What is happening in our country is of unprecedented gravity: it is the complete bankruptcy of the State and @GDarmanin.

MLP # Vendée https://t.co/RDYXzEKLKl

- Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) August 9, 2021

The Minister of the Interior replied on Twitter: "This foreigner was not deportable despite his deportation order as long as his judicial control was not lifted."

He accused Marine Le Pen of "arguing without knowing the facts".

If he was the subject of a new obligation to leave the territory since 2019, it was suspended as part of his judicial review.

Emmanuel Abayisenga was thus prohibited from leaving the territory, explained the Minister of the Interior.

A trial is also scheduled in 2022 for the fire in Nantes cathedral. 

Another event would have deeply marked the Catholic.

On December 31, 2018, the sacristan was assaulted, probably by a marginal, in front of Nantes cathedral.

According to Héloïse de Neuville, he then fell into a form of paranoia. 

Psychiatric disorders

After his confession in July 2020, Emmanuel Abayisenga is remanded in custody for "destruction and damage by fire".

In prison, he made several stays in the psychiatric unit, details Héloïse de Neuville.

His former cellmates also describe him as "haggard", "prostrate", "very withdrawn". 

He was released from prison on May 31, 2021 and was placed under judicial supervision with compulsory residence for the community of Montfort missionaries of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre.

On June 20, the priest Olivier Maire, however, called the gendarmes to alert them: Emmanuel Abayisenga wanted to leave his forced accommodation.

It is in this context that he was placed in a psychiatric hospital from June 20 until July 29, 2021, when he returned to the community.

On Monday, Mgr François Jacolin, bishop of Luçon, asked not to argue while the case of Emmanuel Abayisenga has hit the headlines on social networks and has become a politically inflammable subject within a year of the presidential election.

"It is hardly conceivable, but he was a man in great psychological distress", explained Bishop Jacolin.

"We pray for everyone. We also pray for the one who made this gesture."

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR