The trial of a 23-year-old man, tried for having, in a video, uttered threats against the faithful of one of the main mosques in Lille, was postponed to August 19 due to the absence of his psychological expertise.

Prosecuted for "public apology for an act of terrorism" and "death threat" committed because of "race, ethnicity, nation or religion", the man will remain in pre-trial detention pending his judgment, the court ordered.

He admitted to making the threats

The defendant was arrested on June 23 at his home in Faches-Thumesnil, after a report via the Pharos online platform of a video published on the Telegram application.

In this video, "an individual" expressed "his intention to commit an attack against the Lille-Sud mosque", indicated the Lille prosecutor's office.

Another sequence focused on the Christchurch killings in 2019 in New Zealand, which he described as "pure happiness", the magistrate told the hearing on Wednesday.

A white supremacist had killed 51 people and injured dozens more at two mosques.

Quickly identified, the suspect admitted during the hearings "to be the author of the threats".

"Without real political or religious conviction, the respondent does not claim to be extreme right but seems at the very least interested in the discussion groups linked to these movements", had underlined the parquet floor of Lille.

The video was shot in a square between the Al-Imane mosque and a Muslim association, Human Appeal, the target of Islamophobic tags a few months ago, said the secretary general of the mosque, Makhlouf Mameche.

“I did this under the influence of alcohol”

We hear the person filming say while walking "it's a small mosque, but on Fridays there are people, there is a way to kill a good twenty people", insisting "I'm going to kill these sons of bitches" .

The suspect, born in Auchel, in Pas-de-Calais, father of a four-year-old girl, stopped school in 5th grade.

His criminal record has two entries for travel without a ticket on public transport and an invasion of privacy, said the president.

Unemployed at the time of his incarceration, he said Wednesday "regret" his gesture.

"I did this under the influence of alcohol, I have no hatred," he said, adding that he was "afraid" in prison.

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  • Justice

  • Lille

  • Hauts-de-France

  • Islamophobia

  • Attack

  • Mosque