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| French Ask Whether Priest’s Killer, Listed as a Threat, Could Have Been Stopped | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| PARIS — The question troubling France on Wednesday in the wake of the attack by a teenager who aspired to go to Syria, but settled instead for cutting the throat of a priest, is whether the crime was a result of failures by the French government, and what more could have been done to prevent it. | PARIS — The question troubling France on Wednesday in the wake of the attack by a teenager who aspired to go to Syria, but settled instead for cutting the throat of a priest, is whether the crime was a result of failures by the French government, and what more could have been done to prevent it. |
| Shock from the attack did not stifle new political accusations, with questions immediately raised about how a perpetrator well known to the authorities was nonetheless left free to kill. | Shock from the attack did not stifle new political accusations, with questions immediately raised about how a perpetrator well known to the authorities was nonetheless left free to kill. |
| For politicians and much of the public, it was hard to ignore that the crime was committed during a state of emergency that already gives the government added powers to constrain potential terrorists, and that one of the perpetrators was essentially on probation and wearing an electronic bracelet at the time of the attack. | For politicians and much of the public, it was hard to ignore that the crime was committed during a state of emergency that already gives the government added powers to constrain potential terrorists, and that one of the perpetrators was essentially on probation and wearing an electronic bracelet at the time of the attack. |
| Similar questions and concerns were raised in June, when a man who had served time in prison for having links to terrorist networks and was known to the security services stabbed to death a police officer and his companion in Magnanville, near Paris. | Similar questions and concerns were raised in June, when a man who had served time in prison for having links to terrorist networks and was known to the security services stabbed to death a police officer and his companion in Magnanville, near Paris. |
| The attack on Tuesday, coming less than two weeks after the July 14 Bastille Day massacre in Nice where 84 people were killed by a Tunisian truck driver, has only added to the country’s anxiety. | The attack on Tuesday, coming less than two weeks after the July 14 Bastille Day massacre in Nice where 84 people were killed by a Tunisian truck driver, has only added to the country’s anxiety. |
| France is officially secular but Catholicism is deeply embedded in the country’s culture. That has made the shock and symbolism of the killing of the Rev. Jacques Hamel all the greater. | |
| A Mass at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, reserved for the most solemn state occasions, was held Wednesday evening in memory of Father Hamel, 85, whose attackers forced him to kneel before killing him in the old stone church of St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy. Much of the government and two of France’s three living former presidents attended. | |
| At the same time, a new feeling of helplessness was setting in. One of the attackers, Adel Kermiche, 19, had tried twice to go to Syria. On Wednesday, the Islamic State released a video that it said was recorded before the attack by him and his accomplice in which they pledged allegiance to the group. | |
| Mr. Kermiche, like the Nice attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had a documented history of psychiatric troubles, according to the newspaper Le Monde, which leaked his judicial files in Wednesday’s editions and whose report was confirmed by the Paris prosecutor’s office, which leads terrorism investigations. | Mr. Kermiche, like the Nice attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had a documented history of psychiatric troubles, according to the newspaper Le Monde, which leaked his judicial files in Wednesday’s editions and whose report was confirmed by the Paris prosecutor’s office, which leads terrorism investigations. |
| But unlike Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel, Mr. Kermiche was also already in the government’s books as a terrorist threat. | But unlike Mr. Lahouaiej Bouhlel, Mr. Kermiche was also already in the government’s books as a terrorist threat. |
| Indeed, barely four months ago a judge released him from detention, convinced by the young Franco-Algerian’s arguments that he was ready for a normal life and no longer wanted to become a jihadist. | Indeed, barely four months ago a judge released him from detention, convinced by the young Franco-Algerian’s arguments that he was ready for a normal life and no longer wanted to become a jihadist. |
| At the time, the Paris terrorism prosecutor’s office appealed the judge’s decision, arguing that Mr. Kermiche should stay behind bars. | At the time, the Paris terrorism prosecutor’s office appealed the judge’s decision, arguing that Mr. Kermiche should stay behind bars. |
| The prosecutor was contemptuous of the judge’s arguments for limited surveillance, calling them “perfectly illusory, given the context,” according to the documents quoted in Le Monde. “He’s claiming a mistake, and arguing for a second chance. But there’s a very big risk.” | The prosecutor was contemptuous of the judge’s arguments for limited surveillance, calling them “perfectly illusory, given the context,” according to the documents quoted in Le Monde. “He’s claiming a mistake, and arguing for a second chance. But there’s a very big risk.” |
| Once before, in 2015, after his first failed effort to go to Syria, Mr. Kermiche had been allowed to go free but was required to check in with the police and probation authorities. He violated that order within about six weeks trying a second time to go to Syria. This time he made it as far as Turkey where authorities arrested him. | Once before, in 2015, after his first failed effort to go to Syria, Mr. Kermiche had been allowed to go free but was required to check in with the police and probation authorities. He violated that order within about six weeks trying a second time to go to Syria. This time he made it as far as Turkey where authorities arrested him. |
| When he was caught the second time, he was put in preventive detention until March 18 of this year, when he came before the judge who ultimately let him go. | |
| This time he was fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet, forbidden to leave his local department of Seine-Maritime and made to report to a probation officer at the police station once a week, and ordered to live in his parents’ house, where he was allowed to leave only between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m on weekdays. | |
| All those measures proved useless. It was about 9:25 a.m. on Tuesday — within his judge-allotted period of free circulation — that Mr. Kermiche and an accomplice burst into the church armed with knives and killed Father Hamel and gravely wounded one of his parishioners. | |
| The probation officers who monitor him have had little training in terrorism cases and are overworked and overwhelmed, said Sarah Silva Descas, secretary general of the branch of the C.G.T. union that represents probation and parole officers. Most of their cases involve common criminals, not would-be terrorists. | |
| “There’s enormous pressure on our personnel, we are not prepared to deal with this,” she said. | “There’s enormous pressure on our personnel, we are not prepared to deal with this,” she said. |
| Probation and parole officers, Ms. Silva Descas said, are trained to help reinsert people in the community, find a job and get medical treatment if they have physical or psychiatric problems or problems with drug use. | Probation and parole officers, Ms. Silva Descas said, are trained to help reinsert people in the community, find a job and get medical treatment if they have physical or psychiatric problems or problems with drug use. |
| Yet in terrorism cases they are being asked to function as intelligence workers, alert for signs of potential radicalization. | |
| A colleague of hers, who was assigned to follow Mr. Kermiche told Ms. Silva Descas that “there had not been a failure.” | A colleague of hers, who was assigned to follow Mr. Kermiche told Ms. Silva Descas that “there had not been a failure.” |
| “She had checked in with him every week,” Ms. Silva Descas said. “She had followed his pursuit of a profession. He had come to all of his meetings. | “She had checked in with him every week,” Ms. Silva Descas said. “She had followed his pursuit of a profession. He had come to all of his meetings. |
| “Perhaps she blames herself, but she should not. One can do many things but zero risk does not exist,” she added. | “Perhaps she blames herself, but she should not. One can do many things but zero risk does not exist,” she added. |
| The electronic bracelet did not include a GPS satellite locator, as is often used for sex offenders, but only indicated whether Mr. Kermiche was at his house when he was supposed to be. | The electronic bracelet did not include a GPS satellite locator, as is often used for sex offenders, but only indicated whether Mr. Kermiche was at his house when he was supposed to be. |
| Since Mr. Kermiche committed the crime during the hours he was permitted to be away from his home for work, the bracelet would not have detected anything amiss, Ms. Silva Descas said. | Since Mr. Kermiche committed the crime during the hours he was permitted to be away from his home for work, the bracelet would not have detected anything amiss, Ms. Silva Descas said. |
| The second attacker has yet to be formally identified, but several French news outlets have said that he did not have a criminal record, nor were his fingerprints or DNA on file, slowing the security forces’ efforts to identify him. The person whose identity appears to match most closely was also 19 years old, the same age as Mr. Kermiche, but unlike him, the second man came from eastern France. | The second attacker has yet to be formally identified, but several French news outlets have said that he did not have a criminal record, nor were his fingerprints or DNA on file, slowing the security forces’ efforts to identify him. The person whose identity appears to match most closely was also 19 years old, the same age as Mr. Kermiche, but unlike him, the second man came from eastern France. |
| The government on Wednesday pushed back against demands that it tighten its security stance, arguing as it often does that France’s precious liberties can’t be sacrificed in the name of security. | The government on Wednesday pushed back against demands that it tighten its security stance, arguing as it often does that France’s precious liberties can’t be sacrificed in the name of security. |
| “We can’t give up on the rule of law in order to protect the rule of law,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve insisted to reporters outside the presidential Élysée Palace on Wednesday morning. | “We can’t give up on the rule of law in order to protect the rule of law,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve insisted to reporters outside the presidential Élysée Palace on Wednesday morning. |
| “If we give up on that, on constitutional principles, on republican principles,” he added, “then we will have consecrated the victory of the terrorists.” | “If we give up on that, on constitutional principles, on republican principles,” he added, “then we will have consecrated the victory of the terrorists.” |
| But it is far from clear that the government is winning with its arguments for civil liberties. The pace of attacks appears to be increasing, while the government’s popularity continues to drop. | But it is far from clear that the government is winning with its arguments for civil liberties. The pace of attacks appears to be increasing, while the government’s popularity continues to drop. |
| “The freeing up of a young man who has been imprisoned, that’s conceivable. But you’ve got to take the strictest possible control measures,” said Georges Fenech, an opposition member of Parliament who served as chairman of a recent intelligence-apparatus review committee. | |
| Mr. Kermiche “had a window of several hours, in which he could pass into action,” Mr. Fenech said. “I would have preferred him to be under permanent monitoring.” | Mr. Kermiche “had a window of several hours, in which he could pass into action,” Mr. Fenech said. “I would have preferred him to be under permanent monitoring.” |
| Mr. Fenech has called for a “French Guantánamo” for those returning from Syria. He said in an interview on Wednesday that when Parliament returns after its summer recess, “we’re going to go much further.” | Mr. Fenech has called for a “French Guantánamo” for those returning from Syria. He said in an interview on Wednesday that when Parliament returns after its summer recess, “we’re going to go much further.” |
| Mr. Fenech will introduce laws criminalizing behavior that indicates radicalization, as well internment centers for those on the government’s suspected terrorism lists, potentially involving thousands of people. | |
| This idea is turning up increasingly on the legislative wish-lists of the right-leaning parties. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, a leading contender in next year’s race, proposed something very similar in an interview in Le Monde on Wednesday. | This idea is turning up increasingly on the legislative wish-lists of the right-leaning parties. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, a leading contender in next year’s race, proposed something very similar in an interview in Le Monde on Wednesday. |
| “The government has got to answer the question: How is it that known individuals, one whom is under judicial surveillance for having tried to join jihad in Syria, were allowed the freedom to commit such an attack?” Mr. Sarkozy asked. | “The government has got to answer the question: How is it that known individuals, one whom is under judicial surveillance for having tried to join jihad in Syria, were allowed the freedom to commit such an attack?” Mr. Sarkozy asked. |