Where is the investigation after the indictment of the main suspect?

The 33-year-old man, suspected of starting several fires in front of the religious building, was charged with terrorist conspiracy and placed in pre-trial detention.

Four days after the fire in front of the synagogue in La Grande-Motte (Hérault), the main suspect was indicted on Wednesday, August 28, for terrorist criminal association and attempted murder committed on the grounds of race or religion in connection with a terrorist enterprise, and placed in pretrial detention. Two of his relatives were also indicted. After the opening of a judicial investigation by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat), franceinfo takes stock of the first elements of the investigations.

A man “radicalized for several months” who harbored “a hatred of Jews”

The main suspect, a 33-year-old Algerian with legal status, was unknown to the anti-terrorist services. However, he had been convicted in October 2022 for drunk driving. According to the Pnat, the man had “radicalized in the practice of his religion for several months” And “nourished[ait] also, long-standing hatred of Jews, particularly focused on the situation in Palestine”. He also had “shares to some of his relatives of his intention to go and fight in Gaza.”

In the weeks leading up to the attack, the suspect had acquired a handgun and had “carried out various internet searches on synagogues in the region, Jewish holidays and the Shabbat period”. “He had finally carried out more targeted research on La Grande-Motte”continues the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office. From his first hearing, the suspect “acknowledged the facts” and has “explained that he had acted to support the Palestinian cause.” He contested “any intention of homicide, but conceding having had the intention to cause fear”the prosecution said.

The main suspect did not enter the synagogue, but tried to set it on fire

According to initial findings of the investigation, the main suspect went alone to the vicinity of the Beth Yaacov Atlan synagogue on the night of Friday 23 to Saturday 24 August and slept in his car. “part of the night”At 8:21 a.m., before the morning Shabbat service that attracts many worshipers, he climbed over the wall of the synagogue compound, armed with several plastic bottles filled with fuel, a handgun and “of an axe bearing written mentions in his hand, relating to Palestine, Gaza and the blood of Muslims”, details the floor.

On CCTV cameras, he appears with a keffiyeh on his head, his face uncovered, and a Palestinian flag tied around his waist. The suspect did not enter the religious building, but began by lighting fires in several places outside: at the entrance doors of the main building, the door of the worship hall and the door of the common room, and in the parking lot. He then set fire to a first vehicle and hid behind it. “an air conditioning cabinet”. “After about thirty seconds”the man set fire to “a straw hut located along a wall of the parking lot” and a second vehicle parked nearby.

The man then climbed over the synagogue’s perimeter wall and fled the scene of the attack in his car. “He unintentionally started a fire there and left it a few dozen meters from the synagogue.”reports the Pnat.

“During first aid intervention”, a gas bottle that was in the parking lot exploded, “causing minor injuries to a municipal police officer”. One day he was declared totally incapacitated for work. Five people, including the rabbi, were “at their homes”, “located on the first floor of the building”adds the Pnat, but none were injured.

The individual was arrested in Nîmes fifteen hours after the incident.

Following the attack, the main suspect joined “one of his acquaintances” at a market in Grau-du-Roi, a neighbouring town of La Grande-Motte. This man agreed to drive him in the afternoon to “his accommodation” located in Nîmes (Gard), about forty kilometers from the scene of the attack. In his apartment, the arsonist found another of his relatives “with whom he had previously discussed a possible action”, reports the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office. This man is also suspected of having informed him of the presence of police forces later in the day.

At the end of the evening, around 11:35 p.m., a A team of police officers, mainly including members of the RAID, intervened at the home occupied by the suspect to arrest him. The latter opened fire with his handgun, “which he knew was loaded with blank ammunition and therefore non-lethal”and fired five shots at the police. The suspect was injured in the arm and chest “by a return fire”, and had a wound on his face. After being hospitalized, his questioning in police custody by investigators began on Monday.

Two relatives of the arsonist were also taken into custody. The man who took charge of him in Grau-du-Roi was indicted for receiving stolen property from a terrorist criminal and placed under judicial supervision. The one with whom the main suspect “appears to have shared his project” was indicted for criminal terrorist association and imprisoned. A fourth person, “one of the main suspect’s privileged telephone contacts”had been placed in police custody, franceinfo learned from a judicial source. This was lifted late Monday because “no charge appeared likely to be brought against him”.