This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/world/europe/france-attack-priest-church-syria.html
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Killer of Priest in France Was Detained for Twice Trying to Enter Syria | Killer of Priest in France Was Detained for Twice Trying to Enter Syria |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| PARIS — One of the two young men who killed an 85-year-old Catholic priest in a town in Normandy on Tuesday had been detained for nearly 10 months after twice trying to travel to Syria, but he was released in March over the objection of prosecutors, according to French officials. | PARIS — One of the two young men who killed an 85-year-old Catholic priest in a town in Normandy on Tuesday had been detained for nearly 10 months after twice trying to travel to Syria, but he was released in March over the objection of prosecutors, according to French officials. |
| The young man, Adel Kermiche, 19, was born in Mont-St.-Aignan, a town about five miles from St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray, where he killed the priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, at the end of morning Mass. Mr. Kermiche and the other attacker, who has not been identified, were shot dead by the police. Five other people — three nuns and two parishioners — were held hostage at the church; one of the nuns escaped, but one of the parishioners, an 86-year-old man, was critically injured. The Islamic State called the attackers “soldiers.” | |
| The news that Mr. Kermiche was known to the authorities was announced Tuesday evening by François Molins, the Paris prosecutor, who oversees terrorism investigations. It immediately raised new concerns about the government’s ability to prevent radicalized young people from traveling to Syria and committing acts of terrorism. | The news that Mr. Kermiche was known to the authorities was announced Tuesday evening by François Molins, the Paris prosecutor, who oversees terrorism investigations. It immediately raised new concerns about the government’s ability to prevent radicalized young people from traveling to Syria and committing acts of terrorism. |
| On Wednesday, Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president who is expected to be a candidate in the 2017 presidential elections, seized on the news to criticize President François Hollande’s government for not doing more to protect the country. | |
| “All this violence and barbarism has paralyzed the French left since January 2015,” Mr. Sarkozy told the newspaper Le Monde. “It has lost its bearings and is clinging to a mind-set that is out of touch with reality.” | “All this violence and barbarism has paralyzed the French left since January 2015,” Mr. Sarkozy told the newspaper Le Monde. “It has lost its bearings and is clinging to a mind-set that is out of touch with reality.” |
| Mr. Sarkozy has called for the detention or electronic monitoring of those suspected of being Islamist militants, even if they have committed no crime. | Mr. Sarkozy has called for the detention or electronic monitoring of those suspected of being Islamist militants, even if they have committed no crime. |
| Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve rejected Mr. Sarkozy’s proposal, saying that jailing people without convictions would be not only unconstitutional but also ineffective. | Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve rejected Mr. Sarkozy’s proposal, saying that jailing people without convictions would be not only unconstitutional but also ineffective. |
| “This would be utterly inefficient, and I will tell you why,” he told the Europe 1 radio station on Monday. | |
| Covert surveillance “allows intelligence agencies to act without these individuals knowing it, to dismantle networks and neutralize these individuals after we have brought them to court,” he said. | |
| The French Parliament recently adopted a law that would give prosecutors powers that are normally reserved for investigative judges. The law has not yet taken effect, but Mr. Cazeneuve said it would be a big step to improve public safety. | |
| Mr. Hollande, who spoke with Pope Francis after the attack on Tuesday, met on Wednesday with leaders of many of France’s religious communities, including Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist clergy members. | |
| “We cannot let ourselves get dragged into the hands of Daesh and its political schemings, which aim to pit children of the same family against each other,” said Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, after the meeting at the Élysée Palace. The cardinal was using an Arabic term for the Islamic State. “The moment of truth we’re now living is about knowing which God we believe in,” he added. “Do we believe in a God of death or a God of life?” | “We cannot let ourselves get dragged into the hands of Daesh and its political schemings, which aim to pit children of the same family against each other,” said Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, after the meeting at the Élysée Palace. The cardinal was using an Arabic term for the Islamic State. “The moment of truth we’re now living is about knowing which God we believe in,” he added. “Do we believe in a God of death or a God of life?” |
| Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Grand Mosque in Paris and a former president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, called the attack a “blasphemy which goes against the teachings of our religion.” | Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Grand Mosque in Paris and a former president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, called the attack a “blasphemy which goes against the teachings of our religion.” |
| The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, has warned that the Islamic State’s goal is to “set the French people against each other, attack religion in order to start a war of religions,” and he appealed to the French people not to fall into the terrorist group’s trap. | The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, has warned that the Islamic State’s goal is to “set the French people against each other, attack religion in order to start a war of religions,” and he appealed to the French people not to fall into the terrorist group’s trap. |
| As the investigation into the church attack continued, details that have emerged of Mr. Kermiche’s life depict a man who desperately wanted to get to Syria. | As the investigation into the church attack continued, details that have emerged of Mr. Kermiche’s life depict a man who desperately wanted to get to Syria. |
| On March 23, 2015, a relative reported that he had disappeared. The same day, German authorities detained him as he tried to use identification papers belonging to his brother to travel to Syria. The next day, he was returned to France and placed under detention. On March 28, 2015, he was charged with attempting a criminal act and placed under judicial supervision. He was ordered not to leave the Seine-Maritime department, where he is from, and was required to report once a week to his local police station. | On March 23, 2015, a relative reported that he had disappeared. The same day, German authorities detained him as he tried to use identification papers belonging to his brother to travel to Syria. The next day, he was returned to France and placed under detention. On March 28, 2015, he was charged with attempting a criminal act and placed under judicial supervision. He was ordered not to leave the Seine-Maritime department, where he is from, and was required to report once a week to his local police station. |
| Mr. Kermiche was not deterred, however, from his goal of becoming a jihadist. Just over a month later, he left home. An international arrest warrant was issued for him, and on May 13, 2015, he was arrested after flying to Turkey from Geneva — this time using his cousin’s national identity card. The Turkish authorities sent him back to Switzerland, and on May 22, 2015, the Swiss authorities sent him back to France. | Mr. Kermiche was not deterred, however, from his goal of becoming a jihadist. Just over a month later, he left home. An international arrest warrant was issued for him, and on May 13, 2015, he was arrested after flying to Turkey from Geneva — this time using his cousin’s national identity card. The Turkish authorities sent him back to Switzerland, and on May 22, 2015, the Swiss authorities sent him back to France. |
| There he faced new charges for violating judicial orders by trying to go to Syria. He was detained until March 18 of this year, when a counterterrorism judge allowed him to go home, but under house arrest, with electronic monitoring. He was permitted to leave his house from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays. The authorities confiscated his national identity card and his passport. | There he faced new charges for violating judicial orders by trying to go to Syria. He was detained until March 18 of this year, when a counterterrorism judge allowed him to go home, but under house arrest, with electronic monitoring. He was permitted to leave his house from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays. The authorities confiscated his national identity card and his passport. |
| The Paris prosecutor’s office appealed the decision to let Mr. Kermiche go home, but on March 25, an appellate court upheld the judge’s decision to release him under house arrest. | The Paris prosecutor’s office appealed the decision to let Mr. Kermiche go home, but on March 25, an appellate court upheld the judge’s decision to release him under house arrest. |
| Separately, a 16-year-old native of Algeria was arrested in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray at 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Mr. Molins said. The teenager is the younger brother of another man who is wanted by the authorities for having used Mr. Kermiche’s identity card on March 20, 2015, to leave France, headed for Iraq or Syria. | Separately, a 16-year-old native of Algeria was arrested in St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray at 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Mr. Molins said. The teenager is the younger brother of another man who is wanted by the authorities for having used Mr. Kermiche’s identity card on March 20, 2015, to leave France, headed for Iraq or Syria. |
| Mr. Kermiche’s persistence — despite repeatedly being stopped in his efforts to go to Syria and having spent almost a year in preventive detention before being released, and then only with elaborate conditions put on him — suggests that he was at the very least heeding the Islamic State’s call, which Mr. Molins described as: “Strike at any moment and any place, in all circumstances.” | Mr. Kermiche’s persistence — despite repeatedly being stopped in his efforts to go to Syria and having spent almost a year in preventive detention before being released, and then only with elaborate conditions put on him — suggests that he was at the very least heeding the Islamic State’s call, which Mr. Molins described as: “Strike at any moment and any place, in all circumstances.” |
| “That is the criminal and fanatic propaganda of the criminal organization of Daesh,” Mr. Molins added, “which takes over the minds of individuals of varying profiles and backgrounds in a terrifying way.” | “That is the criminal and fanatic propaganda of the criminal organization of Daesh,” Mr. Molins added, “which takes over the minds of individuals of varying profiles and backgrounds in a terrifying way.” |