one year after the assassination of Dominique Bernard, four things to know about the investigation

The Minister of the Interior participates on Sunday in a tribute to the professor killed on October 13, 2023 by a radicalized former student. franceinfo was able to consult the interrogations of the principal accused.

One year ago today, on October 13, 2023, Dominique Bernard was killed in Arras. This literature professor, murdered with several stab wounds in front of the college where he taught, by a radicalized former student, Mohammed Mogouchkov. A tribute takes place at 11 a.m. Sunday in Arras in the presence of the Ministers of the Interior, Justice and National Education. It has therefore been a year since the attacker was arrested after his act. franceinfo takes stock of the investigation.

1 Three people indicted

The investigations began with a big dragnet, twelve people placed in police custody in addition to the attacker. Her mother and her big sister had recounted the terror they suffered in this radicalized family. The big brother himself is implicated in a planned attack. Among the suspects there was also a prisoner once suspected of having been Mogushkov’s mentor. But in the end, only three people have been indicted to date: Mogouchkov himself, 20 years old at the time of the events, a former student of the establishment, originally from Ingushetia (Russia) and radicalized for several years; his little brother, still a minor, indicted for complicity in terrorist assassination, suspected of having informed his elder on how to use knives; and one of their cousins, suspected of failing to prevent a crime. He is accused of having suspected a plan but of having done nothing to prevent it.

2 A desire to symbolically attack the Republic

franceinfo was able to consult the last two interrogations of the terrorist which say a little more about the motivations of the attacker. Initially silent in police custody, the attacker ended up explaining himself during his interrogations before the investigating judges. Dominique Bernard was the main target, the final objective: “It’s him I was aiming for,” says Mogushkov. A professor of literature, a subject which represented “attachment to the system of the Republic, democracy and human rights”explains the terrorist. For the others, these teachers and employees who he subsequently injured: “it was a gear, it was not prepared” but “I could have killed them”says Mogushkov. “I was capable of it”assures the attacker before the judge in January but “the will has left me”he said.

3 A thoughtful attack carried out alone

The attacker maintains that no one was aware of his terrorist project. During his last interrogation in April, Mohammed Mogouchkov notably exonerated his little brother. “It was something too big for him to know about.”says the assailant, even if he admits to having asked him questions about handling knives.

4 “No questioning” according to psychologists

According to the last expert to have interviewed him in prison, last July, the trigger dates back to 2018. That year the father of the attacker, himself on file S, was expelled from French territory. The man embodies a “authority figure” in this family of Caucasian origin marked, says the expert, by “a rigorous vision of Islam”. This separation could have constituted, according to the psychologist, “the breeding ground for resentment towards French society”.

His project appears “thoughtful and determined”affirms the expert, who believes that there is no existence in the attacker “no questioning of his action” a year after the events.