Tunisian on trial in France over deadly 2020 Nice church attack

by Alain Jean-Robert

A Tunisian man went on trial Monday for stabbing three people to death in a church in the southern French city of Nice in 2020 as part of a "terrorist" plot.

Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, is accused of being behind the murderous rampage on October 29, 2020.

The Nice attack was one of a number of deadly incidents in France blamed on Islamist radicals since 2015.

Aouissaoui is being tried at a special court in Paris and faces life in jail if convicted.

The defendant, speaking in Arabic through an interpreter, with his long hair combed back and a short beard, confirmed his identity as the trial opened.

When presiding judge Christophe Petiteau asked him the name of his lawyer, Aouissaoui, who insists he has no memory of the events of October 29, replied: "I don't know his name."

Armed with a kitchen knife, he almost decapitated Nadine Vincent, a 60-year-old worshipper, and stabbed 44-year-old Franco-Brazilian mother Simone Barreto Silva 24 times and slit the throat of the sacristan Vincent Loques, 55, a father of two daughters.

Seriously injured by police officers after his attack, Brahim Aouissaoui insists that he does not remember anything.

However, his medical examination did not reveal any brain damage and the psychiatric assessment concluded that there was no impairment of his judgement at the time of the events.

His telephone conversations in prison have also shown "that his alleged amnesia was at the very least very exaggerated", according to the prosecution.

His behaviour is a "fictitious amnesia" or even "deception", according to Philippe Soussi, the lawyer of the husband of one of the victims and of the French Association of Victims of Terrorism (AFVT), adding that the accused's "radicalization is old and deep".

Aouissaoui's lawyer Martin Mechin said that "after more than four years of detention in total isolation" his mental health will be in question at the trial and his capacity to be able to defend himself as any accused has the right to do.

- 'Proven radicalisation' -

Aouissaoui had arrived in Europe from Tunisia the month before the attack, first crossing the Mediterranean to Italy and then crossing into France overland.

On the morning of October 29, Aouissaoui entered the Basilica of Notre-Dame in the heart of Nice, carrying a copy of the Koran, three knives and two mobile phones, according to anti-terror prosecutors.

They have argued that he already intended to "commit an attack in France" before leaving Tunisia, pointing to a "proven radicalization and association with individuals involved in terrorist cases" in Tunisia.

The accused is to be cross-examined on February 24 and the trial due to last until February 26.

The Nice killings came two weeks after history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee for having shown his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a lesson on freedom of speech.

Aouissaoui was shot several times by police after the killings and continued to shout "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) as he was being arrested.

French intelligence had nothing on file relating to Aouissaoui prior to the attack.

He hails from a large family in the central Tunisian city of Sfax.

His mother said he repaired motorcycles and described how he had taken to prayer in the years before he left.

"He didn't go out and didn't communicate with others," she told AFP shortly after the attack.