The teenage Islamic State follower who cut the throat of a Catholic priest celebrating mass in northern France was released from prison despite being determined to join jihadis in Syria.
As Adel Kermiche’s family battled to save him from joining the terror group, friends told how the 19-year-old had become increasingly radicalised and had threatened to attack a church.
School mates described Kermiche as “easily influenced” and a “buffoon” who never took to learning.One teenager who knew him told RTL radio that when he heard about the church attack he knew Kermiche was involved. He said: “I wasn’t surprised. He talked about it all the time. He talked about Islam, the things like this he was going to do. He talked about the Qur’an and Mecca and he told me ‘I’m going to attack a church’. He said this two months ago on leaving the mosque. On my mother’s life I didn’t believe him.”
On Tuesday morning, Kermiche carried out that threat, entering the church at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy with another attacker, where he forced Father Jacques Hamel, 86, to his knees and slit his throat. A second man, one of five hostages held by the attackers, was left in a critical condition after they attempted to cut his throat.
The two attackers were shot dead by police as they emerged from the church.
The French president, François Hollande, met religious leaders on Wednesday to discuss responses to the attack, as authorities came under increasing pressure to explain how Kermiche was released from jail awaiting trial after twice attempting to reach Syria to join Isis.
Kermiche was stopped by German police in March 2015 and accused of trying to travel to Syria. He was sent back to France, where he was given conditional parole awaiting trial. Two months later, he tried to enter Syria again, this time via Turkey. He was sent back to France again and was detained in May 2015.
Despite prosecutors’ protests, he was released in March this year. He was ordered to wear an electronic tag and could only leave his home between the hours of 8.30am and 12.30am on weekdays. It was during this four-hour time frame that he carried out the attack.
Le Monde published sections of Kermiche’s legal file showing that since the age of six he had shown signs of “psychological troubles” for which he was regularly hospitalised. Court documents show he told the judge he “regretted his attempts to leave for Syria”.
Source : www.theguardian.com/
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