France: Mosque Killing Suspect Acted Alone on Impulse to Kill, Say Prosecutors

3 May France: La Grand-Combe, France – May 3, 2025 — Police in southern France say the stabbing death of a young Malian man inside a mosque last week seems to have been motivated by a personal and obsessive desire to kill, and not by a wider ideological agenda.

The victim, Aboubakar Cisse, aged 22, was murdered within a mosque in La Grand-Combe town on April 26. According to French authorities, he was stabbed 57 times by Olivier Hadzovic, a 20-year-old Frenchman of Bosnian descent. The suspect, who allegedly recorded the attack’s aftermath, surrendered to Italian police and awaits extradition.

Nîmes prosecutor Cécile Gensac said that Hadzovic was alone and driven by “a strong and indiscriminate will to kill,” with nothing to suggest a terrorist or ideological motive. Police discovered that the suspect, who was active on the internet, had indicated a wish to kill someone or kill himself. He is said to have changed his mind as he walked towards the street and instead went into the mosque.

Inside, he targeted Cisse based on his race, writing online, “He’s Black. I’m going to do it.”

The attack has sparked public outrage, drawing condemnation from French President Emmanuel Macron, who reiterated that “there is no place for religious hatred in the Republic.”

Cisse, who had arrived in France as an illegal adolescent in 2018, had settled in La Grand-Combe in 2019. People in the area had seen him as reserved and generous. He would often volunteer at the mosque where he was assassinated.

His funeral attracted hundreds of mourners, and there were further prayers by Paris. As much as the country was giving it attention, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, whose reputation for being hard-line on immigration is well known, has come under fire for not going to the scene of the attack or originally meeting with Cisse’s family. He claimed that there were problems finding them because Cisse was undocumented, but he would meet them in Paris on Monday.

The suspect’s family has labeled him as mentally unstable. His father publicly mourned, labeling his son “crazy” and offering apologies to the victim’s family. Prosecutors indicate that Hadzovic often viewed violent material on the internet and could have had untreated psychological problems.

Attorneys for the victim’s family have called on authorities to recategorize the case as a terrorist crime, claiming that assaults on Muslim communities should be held equally accountable under the law.

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