A Frenchman accused of shooting dead his Tunisian neighbour in a village in southern France has been formally indicted for murder as an act of terrorism, motivated by the victim’s origins.
Christophe B., the suspect in the killing of 42-year-old Hichem Miraoui, was charged with murder as an act of terrorism on Thursday and held in custody, France’s national anti-terror prosecutor’s office (PNAT) announced.
PNAT took over the case – the first time a far-right racist attack has been treated as a “terrorist” offence since the unit was created in 2019.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said Tuesday that the killing of Miraoui was “clearly a racist crime”, “probably also anti-Muslim”.
"My client regrets the events," Christophe B.’s lawyer, Reda Ghilaci, said in a written statement. He contested the classification of the crime, arguing that “the terrorist label, like the racist intent, is highly debatable from a legal standpoint and is being challenged".
Christophe B., a French national in his 50s, shot and killed Miraoui, a Tunisian man in his 40s, on Saturday evening in the southern town of Auget-sur-Argens. He then shot and wounded another neighbour, a Turkish national.
Prosecutors said the suspect fled the scene by car and was eventually arrested by special forces.
Allegiance to French flag
Christophe B. posted racist videos on social media both before and after the attack, according to regional prosecutor Pierre Couttenier.
In one video he addressed “French people” and called on them to “wake up” and “go get them where they are”. He also pledged allegiance to the French flag and declared his intent to “put a stop to the Islamists”.
Between the attack and his arrest at 5 a.m. Sunday morning, he uploaded four more videos, in which he denounced the French state as "incapable of protecting us or sending them back where they came from," and boasted about having "wiped out the two or three scumbags near [his] home”.
The suspect's social media accounts, investigators say, were filled with posts about terrorism, immigration, Islam, the far-right, and frequent attacks on French government institutions.
"People often say that the normalisation of racist ideas and remarks is due to social media platforms, but platforms are above all tools," said Dominique Sopo, head of the anti-racism group SOS Racisme.
"What we need to look at is who is speaking on these platforms: who incites, who amplifies, who echoes the words of hate that can be found there. And it’s clear that that political parties whose goal is to promote racism and xenophobia obviously have responsibility (for this)," he told RFI.
"The National Rally, Reconquest and the traditional far right come to mind, but also the rest of the political class, which, far too often, chases after far-right ideas and ends up validating them."
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Rise in anti-Muslim acts
Political and religious leaders have sounded the alarm over growing anti-Muslim acts in France, which increased by 72 percent in the first quarter, with 79 recorded cases, according to interior ministry figures.
The shooting followed the murder of a Malian man in a mosque in April, also in southern France, and the burning of a Koran near Lyon at the weekend.
Chems-Eddine Hafiz, the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, called on French President Emmanuel Macron to speak out.
“It is time to hold accountable the promoters of this hatred who, in political and media circles, act with complete impunity and incite extremely serious acts,” said Hafiz. “Remind people of the reality that we are citizens of this country,” he added.
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Tributes poured in from shocked neighbours and friends mourning Miraoui's murder. More than a dozen bouquets were placed outside the barbershop where he worked in the quiet town of Puget-sur-Argens.
France has also seen a rise in reported attacks against members of its Jewish population since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, 2023 and the Israeli military responded with a devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
France’s Holocaust memorial and three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalised with paint on Saturday.
