Did the murder of a Muslim man in a mosque in the Gard region happen "by chance"? What did suspect Olivier H. say?

Suspected of stabbing a Muslim man to death in a mosque in the Gard region on April 25, Olivier Hadzovic admitted the murder to Italian police. However, he denies having tried to kill a Muslim.

He surrendered and confessed to the murder of a Muslim worshipper in a mosque in the Gard region. Olivier Hadzovic was taken into custody on the night of April 27-28 by Italian police after surrendering at the police station in Pistoia, a town northwest of Florence. Born in Lyon in 2004, this young Frenchman from a Roma family of Bosnian origin was unknown to the police and justice services before the attack on Friday, April 25, at the La Grand-Combe mosque.

Brought to the police by his aunt, with whom he had taken refuge, the suspect admitted to being behind the murder of the young Muslim man of Malian origin, but he denies any racist or Islamophobic motive in the attack. "We asked him why he had killed a Muslim, he replied that he had not killed a Muslim, but the first person he had found," his lawyer, Giovanni Battista Salvietti, told Franceinfo on Monday, April 28. "The fact that the victim was Muslim was a coincidence," the lawyer added.

The suspect had "the belief that he had to kill someone"

While the suspect denies having specifically intended to attack a Muslim, other elements suggesting an anti-Muslim act must be explained. After stabbing Aboubakar Cissé with several dozen stab wounds, Olivier Hadzovic filmed himself in front of the dying victim, uttering insults against Islam: "I did it [...] Allah, shit [sic]." Investigators are also wondering what drove the suspect, who is not Muslim, to go to an isolated mosque far from the town center of La Grand-Combe armed with a knife. "As for the crime, as for the mosque, it's as if he doesn't remember anything, as if he doesn't know anything about it," explains Mr. Giovanni Battista Salvietti.

Olivier Hadzovic told the police that he was driven by a morbid impulse, as his Italian lawyer confirmed on Franceinfo : "He says he got up with the conviction that he had to kill someone." This impulse was expressed by the suspect himself in the video filmed in front of the victim's body, in which he "expressed the wish to become a serial killer" by killing "two other" people, according to the transcript made by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. These comments led the Alès public prosecutor to describe the suspect as "potentially very dangerous" during his escape. Sources close to the investigation cited by Le Parisien indicated that they had found messages posted by the suspect expressing a "desire to rape or scarify corpses." However, investigators did not find any racist or hateful posts against Muslims.

Suspicions of "mental problems"

The suspect's lawyer suggested that his client was on a murderous rampage, or even suffered from psychological problems: "In my opinion, he has mental problems. He speaks very little, he is very quiet, very taciturn. It's difficult to talk to him." When questioned by his lawyer about possible medical and psychological follow-up, the suspect in the murder in the Gard region was unable to respond.

Olivier Hadzovic, who comes from a large family and has eleven siblings, according to Le Parisien , is described by some close friends as someone who has withdrawn into himself. "According to his aunt, who spoke with family in France, he had withdrawn in recent months, he was alone all the time, he didn't speak to anyone. He had practically withdrawn from the world," the lawyer reports. Sources close to the investigation cited by Le Parisien add that the suspect is "socially isolated, unemployed, addicted to video games, to which he devoted most of his time," and lives on RSA benefits. He has reportedly been living with part of his family in the Alès region for two years.

An investigation into racially motivated murder

Placed in custody by the Italian police, suspect Olivier Hadzovic is expected to be extradited to France within the next few days or weeks. Once handed over to the French courts, he will be charged as part of the investigation opened by the Nîmes prosecutor's office for "premeditated murder related to the victim's race or religion." The man is therefore suspected of murder, and for the time being, the Islamophobic nature of the attack has been accepted by the courts. Investigators are also favoring the hypothesis of an act motivated by hatred of Muslims, but the analysis could evolve following the hearings and study of the suspect's profile.

The only possibility that the courts seem to be ruling out for the time being is that of a terrorist act, since the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office has not taken up the case. However, the lawyer for Aboubakar Cissé's family stated on BFMTV that the terrorist nature of the attack is beyond doubt.