Alaattin Doğru
09 August 2021•Update: 09 August 2021
PARIS
A Catholic priest was killed in western France on Monday, local media reported.
A Rwandan refugee reportedly confessed to French security officials that he murdered Olivier Maire in the Vendee region, according to right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles.
The priest's body was found near the town of Saint-Laurent-sur-Sevre in the northeast.
After coming to France in 2012, refugee Emmanuel Abayisenga was held responsible for a fire that broke out in a cathedral in Nantes in July 2020.
Abayisenga was reportedly due to be deported in 2019.
On Twitter, Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said he would go to Vendee to express his condolences to Catholics.
Darmanin said Abayisenga could not be deported as he has been under judicial custody.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen also said: "You can be an illegal migrant, set fire to a cathedral, not be expelled, and then reoffend by murdering a priest."
