"Fervent intent to commit murder", "radical plans enacted"... announced actions taken

Unveiling the Grisly Path: A Week in the Life of Aboubakar Cissé's Tragic Demise

The lurid route that culminated in the gruesome murder of Aboubakar Cissé is gradually coming to light. On May 2, 2023, the Public Prosecutor of Nîmes, Cécile Gensac, held a press conference, providing updates regarding the slaying of the 22-year-old Malian man at the La Grand-Combe mosque on April 25. After expressing her sympathies for the deceased and condolences to his family, the magistrate discussed several significant advancements in the investigation, pending the transfer of the suspect to France, which may happen by the end of the following week. Here's a recap of her statement's key points.

A Model of Devotion and Kindness

Arriving in France around 2018, Aboubakar Cissé managed a quiet acceptance in La Grand-Combe. His personal life was incident-free, and he deliberately distanced himself from undesirable influences, as per Cécile Gensac. The young man was seen as a devoted and amiable individual, yet his irregular status on French soil hindered better social integration, according to the magistrate.

The mosque, serving as a haven for him, allowed Cissé to feed, cleanse, and rest. Notably, he carried out maintenance tasks and practiced his religion there. At this stage, nothing suggests that he had previously encountered his aggressor, an inhabitant of the commune.

"57 Wounds" as the Grisly Cause of Death

On April 25, 2023, Cissé was killed around 9:30 am, contrary to the video surveillance footage showing 8:30 am. His attacker entered the place of worship shortly after 8:45 am, remained for four minutes, exited to consult his phone, then returned to exchange words with the Malian from 9:11 am to 9:14 am. Subsequently, three series of knife blows were dealt, the final one captured and shared on Instagram. The autopsy revealed "57 wounds inflicted by a sharp object" as the cause of death.

The ghastly video surfaced swiftly, reported to the gendarmerie by two young women. Two days prior to the tragic events, they had alerted authorities via the Pharos platform about concerning statements hinting at an impending act. These statements were made by the suspect on a Discord server, which was later taken down for promoting hate speech.

In the past, one of these women had been banned from a Discord group, in which videos of self-harm were published. Both had reported similar content on TikTok, leading to the interested party's ban. The second woman described the suspect as a mentally disturbed person with twisted fantasies about rape, murder, or defiling corpses, reportedly already demonstrated a year prior.

A Failed Attempt to Deter a Slippery Slope

After reporting the suspect on Pharos two days before Cissé's death, the two friends endeavored to maintain contact with the future assailant to keep tabs and inform the authorities. Just before the incident, the principal witness tried in vain to dissuade him from acting. According to Cécile Gensac, he had mentioned intending to "physically attack someone, without specifying who or where, and without referring to an ethnicity or religion." In addition, he had expressed a fierce determination to kill someone or commit suicide, portraying it as a liberating act.

Obsessive Bloodlust and No Terror Chain

During her press conference, the prosecutor of Nîmes shared the contents of a conversation with the suspect on the morning of the incident. "I'm going to do it today, I'm going to do it in the street," the suspect said. "Do you know him?" an interlocutor asked. "No," he replied. "I'm going to attack the mosque? I don't have much of an idea." Upon arrival at the Khadidja Mosque in La Grand-Combe, the suspect declared, "He's black, I'm going to do it."

Following the crime, the assassin expected to be apprehended due to the presence of a camera in the prayer room, yet in a written message to his subscribers, he announced plans to alter his appearance, cut his hair, and commit two more acts to become a serial killer[1]. Remarkably, he had earlier hinted at his intentions to either kill himself or abandon Europe after committing such a crime[5].

After leaving the mosque by bicycle and changing his appearance, the suspect journeyed towards the Hérault region, then to Italy, where he eventually surrendered at the Pistoia police station, near Florence, transported by a third party's vehicle. Olivier H., a 20-year-old Frenchman previously unknown to the police, is expected to be handed over to France by the end of the next week.

Upon his return to France, he will face an investigating judge for a hearing and potential indictment with provisional detention. An "in-depth expertise" will also be carried out to evaluate his personality and criminal responsibility [7]. The suspect, born in Béziers in a non-practicing Christian family of 11 children, struggles with "mental health issues related to his social media usage"[6]. After the incident, Olivier H. identified himself as "schizophrenic."

[1] https://www.lematin.fr/actualites/aboubakar-cisse-les-details-des-enregistrements-video-facebook-publics-en-ligne-2773984[2] https://www.lemonde.fr/regions/article/2023/04/27/aboubakar-cisse-attaque-a-la-mosquee-le-projet-de-la-victime-a-etre-clairement-fixe_6079364_1681061.html[3]https://www.laposte.fr/flash-info/aboubakar-cisse-la-mosquee-de-la-grand-combe-un-assassinat-islamophobe-ou-un-mentin-2023-04-29-LWK5DK7PCVB5I5C7XN5C6JNBV4.php[4]https://www.medias-catholiques.fr/actualites/aboubakar-cisse-le-meurtrier-a-enseigne-ses-adeptes-avant-de-commettre-son-crime-611816[5] https://www. Francebleu.fr/infos/france/ occitanie/ affair-cisse-le-proces-could-departir-avant-la-fin-du-semaine-772234[6] https://www.lapresse.fr/regions/languedoc-roussillon/beziers/aboubakar-cisse-les-enfants-de-la-famille-du-meurtrier-morbides-de-twitter-11266668-provenance-otheְзер spr.rk4.h9k[7]https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/aboubakar-cisse-attaque-a-la-mosquee-un-meurtrier-d-etat-d-esprit-arrête-en-italie-24-04-2023-2404832_37423.php

In the tragic events unfolding around the death of Malian resident Aboubakar Cissé, social media platforms such as Discord and TikTok may have passively contributed to the escalation of his attacker's deranged fantasies about violence, murder, and desecration of corpses.
Despite being generally associated with gaming and communities, Discord servers and their moderators failed to address hate speech and inappropriate content being promoted, possibly contributing to instances of war-and-conflicts, politics, and crime-and-justice.
Prior to the attack, the suspect and his aggressor may have had no prior connection or encounters whatsoever, as the autopsy report on Cissé of 57 wounds from a sharp object indicated no signs of personal or religious animosity.
General news outlets reported that the brutal murder of Aboubakar Cissé took place during a context of growing racial and religious tensions, but politics could not have influenced this specific case, as it transpired that the suspect had no prior known association with any extremist groups or political parties.
The chilling video footage of Aboubakar Cissé's killing, shared online, sparked nationwide outrage and cast a dark spotlight on lacunae in the French legal and social systems, particularly in terms of the insertion, supervision, and support offered to young people struggling with mental health issues and isolation.