The fifth anniversary of the assassination of Father Jacques Hamel will be officially commemorated on Monday with the arrival of the Minister of the Interior in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.
But all minds are already turned to the trial which will take place before the Special Assize Court in Paris, from February 14 to March 11, 2022.
This Monday marks the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Father Hamel, a highly symbolic target in a case with worldwide repercussions.
The two attackers, Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, who claimed to be part of the Islamic State organization, had been shot dead by the police.
The trial of four people suspected of responsibility in the assassination of the priest, in his church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Seine-Maritime in 2016, is scheduled before the special assize court of Paris from February 14 to March 11 2022.
The probable instigator presumed dead
Among them, Rachid Kassim, targeted by an arrest warrant and presumed dead. This Frenchman is the probable instigator of the attack from abroad. He was reportedly killed four years ago in the Iraqi-Syrian zone. In the weeks leading up to the attack, it was he who encouraged Abdel Malik Petitjean to "strike a French symbol" on the encrypted Telegram app. He is also the recipient of the videos of allegiance to the caliphate of the two terrorists.
In this jihadosphere, all the protagonists have known each other on social networks.
Four days before the attack, the two attackers had never met.
Adel Kermiche had a very active pro-jihad Telegram channel when he published the scenario of a knife attack in a church.
A publication that prompted Abdel Malik Petitjean to contact him privately.
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Around them also gravitated Khalil, 35, the cousin of Abdel Malik Petitjean, and Jean-Philippe Steven, 26, considered a leader of jihadist propaganda on social networks. They are now being prosecuted for association of terrorist criminals, just like Yassine, 28, also radicalized on the Internet. Two days before the attack, he had joined the attackers in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray from Toulouse, but had left them precipitately the day before the incident. He has always denied having any knowledge of their terrorist project.