France: The suspect in the murder of three Kurds in Paris will appear before an investigator tomorrow

The 69-year-old man accused of killed three Kurds on Friday in Pariswas released today from the psychiatric clinic where he had been transferred and is expected to be brought before an investigator tomorrow who will prosecute him, prosecutors said.

The suspect, who during his interrogation admitted what it feels like”pathological hatred of foreigners“, he was taken into custody again this afternoon, the prosecutor’s office said. His detention was lifted late Saturday night, when it was deemed necessary to transfer him to a psychiatric clinic for health reasons.

The 69-year-old is accused of killing Emine Cara, an official of the Kurdish Movement in France, as well as two men, including the artist and political refugee Mir Perver. Three other men were injured – one seriously – but their lives are not in danger. Five of the six victims had Turkish citizenship and one had French citizenship.

According to the prosecution, from the investigation conducted at the home of the 69-year-old’s parents, where he also lived, no evidence was found that he was connected to any extremist group. It appears that he had initially sought victims in a suburb of the French capital but then abandoned that plan.

During his interrogation by the police he explained that “his hatred of foreigners became pathological” after a burglary at his home in 2016, explained District Attorney Lor Becchio. He claimed to be depressed and suicidal. “But before I killed myself I always wanted to kill immigrants, foreigners, after that burglary.” For this reason he went early on Friday morning to Saint-Denis, a popular suburb in the north of Paris, carrying a Colt 45 automatic pistol with him “to assassinate foreigners”. The prosecutor said she eventually abandoned that attempt because there were not many people around and the clothes he was wearing would have made it difficult for him to reload his gun. He thus returned to his parents’ house and came out again later, to go to the neighborhood where he knew the Kurdish community center was located. And there he opened fire.

He did not know any of his victims. But he said he wanted to kill Kurds because “they were holding prisoners in their fight against the Islamic State, rather than killing them.” He intended to use all the ammunition he had “and kill himself with the last bullet” but was stopped by some people who were in a neighboring hair salon and then arrested by the police.