France Still Doesn’t Realise Terrorism Threat
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The case of Adel Kermiche, who was under electronic monitoring by police when he and an accomplice staged a deadly attack on a French church, points to a potential weakness in France’s counterterrorism defenses – the relatively lax treatment of terror suspects and convicts.
Kermiche and another person stormed Saint Etienne du Rouvray church during mass on July 26 and took six people hostage including the priest. They killed the priest and severely injured one other person. One nun escaped and alerted authorities. The two accomplices were shot to death by the police.
It later appeared that the 19-year-old ISIS follower Adel Kermiche was sent to prison in May 2015 for trying to go to Syria to join ISIS.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a French court gave him a conditional parole as he awaited trial. Ignoring the parole’s conditions, in May 2015 he made it to Turkey in a second attempt to joint ISIS, but was stopped by the Turkish police and sent back to France.
He spent 10 month in jail, and over the objections of the prosecution, was released in March 2016. He was ordered to wear an electronic bracelet, and was allowed to leave home only for four hours a day on weekdays.
His legal file shows that he had exhibited signs of “psychological troubles” since the age of six, and that he was regularly hospitalized for these problems.
The question arises why France did not keep this person under more strict conditions and closer surveillance.
