A French criminal court has handed a four-year prison sentence to a Rwandan national after finding him guilty of setting fire to the Saint-Paul and Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Nantes in July of 2020—an act which resulted in severe damage to the Gothic church, whose construction began in 1434.
During proceedings, the court heard how Emmanuel Abayisenga, the 42-year-old defendant who arrived in France in 2012, out of anger started three separate fires on the morning of 18 July 2020, inside the cathedral after he received an obligation to leave the French territory (an OQTF), the Paris-based newspaper Le Figaro reports.
He received the OQTF in November 2019, following several requests for regularization—supported by the diocese—which had not been successful.
On Wednesday, March 29th, the court ruled that Abayisenga—who is also facing legal action for another incident in which he is believed to have murdered Father Olivier Maire in April 2021 in the western department of Vendée—was not mentally sound during the time that he set fire to the cathedral.
Me Abkoui, Abayisenga’s lawyer, says the trial for the case could be held at the end of 2024.
While standing before the court, the arsonist asked for a “pardon,” and sought to justify his actions by saying that he had “lost control.” His lawyer told the court his client “is aware of his guilt for this fire, and he admits it.”
The damage caused by the fire is staggering, with some like the cathedral’s owners and the public prosecutor Thibuad Huc estimating that it amounts to “more than 40 million euros.” The cathedral’s 17th-century organ, known for having survived the French revolution and World War II, was destroyed.
Paintings, stained-glass windows containing bits of 16th-century glass, and priceless artifacts were also lost in the blaze.
Public prosecutor Veronique Wester-Ouisse described Abayisenga as a dangerous person who has a “capacity for manipulation and for dissimulation.” She accused the defendant of knowingly setting the cathedral alight due to “huge anger and a feeling of revenge linked to his administrative situation”.
Abayisenga’s lawyer, for her part, argued against the prosecution’s thesis that Abayisenga’s actions had been motivated by “revenge.”
“In Rwanda, he lived through the genocide, the torture, of which he bears scars recorded in his medical file, the separation from his brothers and his sisters … We cannot deny it,” Me Abkoui said.
The fire in Nantes took place 15 months after a massive fire engulfed Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, devastating much of the church which dates back to the 12th century. The cathedral, presently undergoing restoration, is set to reopen on December 8th, 2024, on the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
