Italy extradites mosque murder suspect to France: prosecutor
Aboubakar Cisse was stabbed dozens of times while attending prayers at the mosque in the southern French town of La Grand-Combe on April 25.
Olivier Hadzovic, a 20-year-old French national of Bosnian origin accused of carrying out the attack, surrendered to Italian authorities after three days on the run.
"The suspect in the Grand-Combe case is being transferred today," said Cecile Gensac, the prosecutor for the nearby city of Nimes, where authorities are investigating the stabbing as "murder aggravated by premeditation and on the grounds of race or religion".
"He was handed over to the French authorities this morning," his Italian lawyer Giovanni Salvietti confirmed to AFP. Asked about his client's state of mind, Salvietti said: "As usual, he is saying very little."
Hadzovic admitted to killing Cisse in his first statement to Italian investigators, but according to his lawyer he denied acting from hatred of Islam, saying he had "killed the first person he found" in his path.
Gensac said on May 2 that Hadzovic had been "driven by a fierce desire to kill someone and failing that, to commit suicide".
He had told someone online he would "do it in the street" before considering attacking the mosque, Gensac said, and once inside he wrote: "He's black. I'm going to do it."
He seemed to have "profoundly personal motives" and the crime was not being treated as "terrorist" as it was not linked to an "ideological claim", she added.
The case has sparked fierce debate over religious hatred in France, home to the European Union's largest Muslim community, with several groups planning a protest on Sunday.
"Everyone must take part in the fight to protect Muslims in France", said Sofia Tizaoui, a member of a high school union involved in the march.
A prayer ceremony was held Thursday in the Malian capital of Bamako following the repatriation of Cisse's body.
His family's lawyers are calling for the investigation to be reclassified as a "terrorist murder".
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Italy
3 hours ago
- Local Italy
Residents evacuated as major fire breaks out at university north of Rome
The fire broke out on the roof of the university's agriculture faculty building shortly after 10am, Italian media reported. As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, firefighters and military officers were still struggling to contain the blaze. #Viterbo, #incendio facoltà di agraria: proseguono le operazioni di spegnimento dall'esterno dell'edificio, #vigilidelfuoco in azione di contenimento delle fiamme che hanno coinvolto il 2° piano, oltre al tetto [ #4giugno 12:30] — Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) June 4, 2025 Everyone within 500 metres of the building, including local residents, was evacuated and those within a 1-kilometre radius instructed to close their windows to avoid inhaling smoke. No injuries were immediately reported, though some in the vicinity were sent to Santa Rosa hospital with smoke inhalation symptoms. A worker who was initially reported missing has since been found, La Repubblica newspaper said. Dramatic video footage published on the paper's website showed flames engulfing the roof of the building. The Viterbo Prosecutor's Office is reportedly waiting to receive information from the firefighters and rescue workers on the ground before opening an investigation into the cause of the fire. According to initial reports, the roof had been undergoing renovation work by workers who were using an oxyacetylene torch for welding. It may then have spread to chemistry and genetics laboratories where highly flammable substances including ethanol were stored. Patrizia Marini, president of Italy's national association of agricultural institutes, RENISA, told reporters she was 'very saddened by the serious incident that has occurred in one of Italy's most important agricultural colleges.'
Local Italy
4 hours ago
- Local Italy
Reader question: Do I have to vote in all five of Italy's upcoming referendums?
Question: I want to vote in Italy's upcoming citizenship referendum, but I don't have an opinion on the issues raised in the other referendums. If I want to vote on the citizenship question, do I have to have to vote in these as well? On Sunday, June 8th and Monday, June 9th, Italians will be asked to vote on a proposal to create a quicker path to citizenship through residency by cutting the current 10-year residency requirement down to five years. But there are also four other referendums being held on the same dates which are unrelated to the citizenship question. These concern labour law provisions on unlawful dismissals, severance compensation in small businesses, employment contract conditions and contractors' liability over workplace injuries. You can see them all reproduced here on the interior ministry's website and learn more details about them (in Italian) here. Although these referendums are being held simultaneously, you don't have to vote in all of them. As lawyer Giuseppe Di Palo explains, when you go to the polling station, you can ritirare (pick up) just one ballot, all five, or any number in between. Each ballot is on a different coloured card and is marked with a number from one to five. The citizenship referendum ballot is no. 5, on yellow card. When you arrive at the polling station and identify yourself with your tessera elettorale (electoral card), you can choose to pick up only the ballot papers for the referendums you want to vote in. If you do pick up all five ballots, you don't have to mark all of them; you can leave any of them blank when you deposit them in the ballot box. The key difference is in whether you count towards the voter turnout. All five referendums require a minimum turnout, or quorum, of more than 50 percent of Italian voters for the results to be valid. The quorum is calculated separately for each vote. If you deposit a blank ballot paper, it counts towards reaching the quorum for that referendum; if you don't pick up a ballot, it won't count towards reaching that quorum. Key figures in Italy's ruling coalition, which opposes all five referendums, have publicly called on supporters to abstain from voting on June 8th-9th to prevent all votes from reaching the quorum. If you are registered to vote from abroad by post, you should have received all five ballots to your foreign-registered address in a (plico elettorale) containing instructions on how to return them to the relevant Italian consulate. Guidelines on how to send in your completed ballots might vary slightly between different countries, so it's important to read through all the instructions and follow them carefully. As with voting in person, you should be able to choose whether to return any or all of the ballots, marked or unmarked. For your vote to count, you must ensure that the completed ballots are received by your Italian consulate by 4pm local time on Thursday, June 5th at the latest.
Local Italy
2 days ago
- Local Italy
Anger mounts in Florence as closure looms for US consulate
The Florence Consulate is one of over 100 bureaus and offices targeted for closure under President Donald Trump's sweeping plans to downsize the US State Department to slash costs and improve efficiency. Besides the Florence Consulate, other consulates slated for closure include Rennes, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Bordeaux in France, as well as Dusseldorf, Leipzig, and Hamburg in Germany. First announced in late April, plans to overhaul the State Department were formally presented to Congress by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday. "The reorganisation plan will result in a more agile Department, better equipped to promote America's interests and keep Americans safe across the world," Rubio said in a statement. The congressional notification sparked anger among Americans in Florence, reigniting concerns that thousands of US residents and visitors in the area may soon be stripped of quick access to essential services including emergency assistance in the event of natural disasters and hospitalisations. Mary Lokken, a California native who has been living in Florence for over 40 years, told La Repubblica that closing the Florence Consulate means 'depriving us of services that we all use at least once – from the issuance of visas and passports to information on taxes and elections, and even social benefits". Lindsey Brock, a member of local activist group Good Trouble Firenze, also voiced anger over the planned closure, calling it 'yet another cut to services aimed at American citizens'. 'Foreign residents and tourists will pay the real price," she added. According to La Repubblica, the Florence Consulate offers support to around four million visitors every year, as well as over 200 businesses operating between Italy and the US. If it were to close, US nationals in the area would need to travel to one of the country's other consulates in Milan or Naples, or the Rome Embassy to access help. The planned closure is 'madness,' Maurizio Mancianti, president of the Tuscan American Association, said. This 'directly affects all American citizens who live or pass through here', as well as 'anyone who needs to travel to or run a business in the United States,' he added. Plans to close the Florence Consulate were also harshly criticised by Mayor Sara Funaro, who called the move 'reckless' given 'the many Americans who study and work' in the city. Funaro said she intended to ask Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and US authorities for clarification on the matter. 'Florence cannot be written off like this," she said. Following last week's developments, the Florence Consulate said it would 'continue carrying out its usual activities' pending official communications from the US.
