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PARIS: A Tunisian man went on trial Monday accused of stabbing to death three people in a church in the southern French city of Nice in 2020, but his insistence that he had no recollection of the events provoked anger among relatives of the victims.
Brahim Aouissaoui, 25, is being tried at a special court in Paris and faces life in jail if convicted. The murderous rampage on Oct. 29, 2020 was one of a number of deadly incidents in France blamed on extremists since 2015.
He has insisted he has no memory of the attack and told the court: “I don’t remember the facts. I have nothing to say because I don’t remember anything.”
A cry of rage and despair sounded from court benches reserved for the relatives of victims and their lawyers.
Presiding judge Christophe Petiteau told gendarmes to expel one man who shouted abuse at Aouissaoui.
Aouissaoui has also said he does not know the name of his lawyer.
“When I talk to him, I have the impression — but again I’m not a doctor or an expert — I have the impression that he doesn’t understand the issues of this trial, that he doesn’t understand the stakes of this case,” his lawyer Martin Mechin told reporters outside the court.
According to prosecutors, armed with a kitchen knife, Aouissaoui almost decapitated Nadine Vincent, a 60-year-old worshipper, stabbed 44-year-old Franco Brazilian mother Simone Barreto Silva 24 times and slit the throat of the sacristan Vincent Loques, 55, a father of two daughters.
Seriously injured by police after the attack, Aouissaoui has always insisted that he does not remember anything.