The suspect in the murder of a teacher at a public institute in the town of Arras, in northern France, will be presented before a judge specialized in terrorism. The national anti-terrorism prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard, confirmed that the young man had sworn allegiance to the jihadist group calling itself the Islamic State. Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron stated that “there was no failure in the security services.”
Mohammed Mogouchkov, a young man of Russian nationality from Ingushetia, in the North Caucasus, will be presented on Tuesday, October 17, before an anti-terrorist investigative judge, four days after an attack in the city of Arras, claimed on behalf of the Islamic State and that plunged France into fear.
Jean-François Ricard, head of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed during a press conference in Paris that the attacker had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist group.
According to the prosecutor, Mogouchkov, 20 years old and arrested for radicalism, took responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Islamic State in a video recorded shortly before the attack.
The Anti-Terrorist Subdirectorate of the Judicial Police (Sdat) and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) detained 11 people for the attack, three of whom were released on Monday, according to a police source.
Macron: “There were no failures” in the security services
On Friday, October 13, around 11:00 local time, Mogouchkov, armed with a knife, went to his old institute, the Gambetta-Carnot school campus. There, he fatally stabbed Dominique Bernard, a 57-year-old French teacher, and then injured three other people before being detained by a police patrol.
The young man had been followed by the DGSI “since the end of July”, through wiretapping and physical surveillance measures, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
And, on Thursday, a day before the attack, he had been subjected to a control by the authorities without “being able to be charged with any crime,” according to an intelligence source.
There were no “failures in our security services”, President Emmanuel Macron stated in this regard, during a press conference in Tirana, on Tuesday, October 17.
Alert in France and other countries
This attack, committed three years after the murder of fellow teacher Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), once again spread fear, especially among teachers.
France immediately declared an “emergency attack” situation, the highest level of the surveillance and protection system.
In fact, this Tuesday the Palace of Versailles was evacuated again due to a bomb alert and, according to the institution, “for security reasons”, its doors will remain closed throughout the day.
In Arras, students, alumni and residents continue to pray in front of the Gambetta school complex.
“We were shocked, traumatized. This teacher sacrificed himself to save other lives,” said Constant Butel, a senior at a nearby high school.
Middle and high school teachers were scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the situation, but the meeting was canceled due to a bomb threat.
Other countries also fear terrorist acts, particularly in response to the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Two Swedes were murdered on Monday in Brussels in an attack whose alleged perpetrator, a radicalized Tunisian residing illegally in Belgium, was fatally wounded on Tuesday by the Police.
“All European states are vulnerable” to the return of “Islamist terrorism,” said Emmanuel Macron.
Relatives of the suspect linked
Attack in Arras, France
In this case, two brothers of the attacker were also linked to the investigation: his younger brother, 17 years old, who was near another school in Arras, but without a weapon, and the older brother, currently imprisoned.
The latter was sentenced to five years in prison, in 2023, for not having reported a planned attack near the Elysee Palace. He was later found guilty of advocating terrorism.
Mohammed Mogushkov, born in the predominantly Muslim Russian republic of Ingushetia, arrived in France in 2008. He was the subject of intelligence surveillance because of his ties to his older brother.
The attacker’s father, deported in 2018, “was a supporter of radical Islam,” according to the Interior Minister.
Among the detainees released this Monday is the attacker’s sister, born in 2005.
Before investigators, he recounted having “watched his brother Mohammed become increasingly harsh in his practice of Islam,” according to his lawyer Mikaël Benillouche.
President Emmanuel Macron vowed Monday that schools will remain a “bulwark against obscurantism” and “a sanctuary for students and for all those who work there.”
The president will attend Dominique Bernard’s funeral at the Arras Cathedral on Thursday.
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