"It was not just a news item": this Saturday in Marseille, the relatives of Alban Gervaise, stabbed to death in May in front of his children's school, paid tribute to this forty-year-old "killed in the pain and injustice", in the words of Mayor Benoît Payan.
From the evening of the attack, after the search of the home of the alleged murderer, the terrorist hypothesis had been ruled out.
The aggressor, of French nationality, had declared before the investigators to have acted "in the name of God", then had evoked "the devil".
"There was a change of investigating judge and we asked for further investigation," family lawyer Me Pezet told AFP, adding that the alleged perpetrator had been transferred to hospital. psychiatric due to his behavior in detention.
A solemn ceremony six months later
On May 10, Alban Gervaise, 41, was coming to pick up his children from school in the Merlan district, north of the city, when he was violently attacked by a man suffering from psychological disorders, according to investigators.
Despite the help of passers-by and the care provided for two weeks in hospital, he died on May 26.
Six months after the death of this father, military doctor, his wife organized a solemn ceremony with the help of the town hall but also of the army, in the presence of the archbishop of Marseilles and the prefect of the region in particular.
“It was not just another incident”
During the unveiling of a plaque on Saturday, near the site of the fatal attack, in this working-class district where individual houses rub shoulders with large HLM complexes, Benoît Payan spoke of "the mourning of injustice and misunderstanding".
"He did what thousands of parents do every day: pick up his children from school," said Alban's widow, Christelle Gervaise.
"The violence and the relentlessness suffered by Alban are unbearable to me, but we must still allow time for the investigation and not give in to anger," she added.
Also present at the ceremony, the prefect of police decorated the two men who had come to the aid of Alban Gervaise at the time of the attack, which had enabled the police to arrest his attacker: an act of bravery which "allowed us to to have these few extra days by his side and to be able to say goodbye to him, ”thanked Christelle Gervaise.
"It was not just another incident," insisted one of the victim's best friends.
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