FLORENCE: Italy could extradite to France the man accused of stabbing a young Malian to death in a mosque in southern France by mid-May, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Friday’s killing of 22-year-old Aboubakar Cisse in rural France has shocked the country, which is home to the largest Muslim community in the European Union.
The suspect has been named by Italian police as 21-year-old Oliver Hadzovic but identified by French prosecutors as Olivier A.
“My client has agreed to be handed over to France because he wants to go home, so a fast-track extradition process has been initiated, which will allow Olivier to return by mid-May,“ his lawyer Giovanni Salvietti said on Wednesday.
“He should be in France around 10-15 May,“ he added.
The suspect “surrendered precisely because he wants to return to France, which is his home, where his family lives,“ Salvietti said. His client did not speak “a word of Italian”, he added.
The alleged murderer -- a French national of Bosnian origin -- may be moved to a higher-security prison in Italy because of fears of possible reprisals from Muslim inmates.
He surrendered two and a half days after he stabbed Cisse dozens of times in the southern French village of La Grand-Combe and then filmed him with a mobile phone while shouting insults against Islam.
Investigators said the suspect sent the footage -- showing the victim writhing in agony -- to another person, who then shared it on social media before deleting it.
He “continues to deny that his actions had any religious connotations”, Salvietti said, adding that his client had an “extremely fragile” mental state.
“He speaks in monosyllables,“ Salvietti said. “I don’t think he realises yet what he is accused of.”
The crime prompted President Emmanuel Macron to say there is no place for religious hate in French society.
On Wednesday, he once again spoke out against religious hatred and racism.
“France is defined neither by blood, race, religion, nor a fixed identity,“ Macron said during a ceremony honouring the French Foreign Legion.
Nearly 150 nationalities serve in the storied unit, which is made up of foreign fighters.
On Tuesday, Macron met with leaders of France’s Muslim community, who called for action in “the fight against anti-Muslim hatred”.
