TERRORIST ATTACK AT ARRAS HIGH SCHOOL

THE WORRYING PROFILE OF THE FAMILY

OF THE MURDERER MOHAMMED MOGOUCHKOV

Jihadism has once again struck France in an international context of extreme tension.

Three years after the assassination of Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), the school, the symbol par excellence of the Republic, was targeted again, Friday October 13 in the morning, by an Islamist of around twenty 'years.

A literature teacher was killed and three others were seriously injured during a late morning knife attack at the Gambetta-Carnot high school in Arras by an Islamist terrorist. Three other people were injured by the attacker.

The latter was taken into custody like four members of his family and three other people. The assailant would have refused, for the moment, to speak in police custody.

The perpetrator of the attack also shouted “Allah Akbar”, a police source said. File S, the suspect was under surveillance by the DGSI and was checked on Thursday. If the attacker was followed by the intelligence services and on S file since October 2, his big brother was convicted of criminal terrorist association.

He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for terrorist conspiracy, plus 18 months for advocating terrorism.

An emergency system was quickly put in place around the Gambetta-Carnot school complex. The Raid was put on high alert.

Political reactions followed one another all day long.

Emmanuel Macron denounced a “cowardly and savage” assassination. The head of state also chaired a security meeting with several ministers.

Gabriel Attal declared from his ministry that, on Monday, "everywhere in France, we will have a moment of union and contemplation", in tribute to the teacher killed during a knife attack in a high school in Arras. The Minister of National Education also announced "to deploy nearly 1,000 prevention and security personnel in schools and educational establishments". "These are mobile security teams" in the rectorates.

First testimonies

Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region, recounted how the tragedy unfolded: “According to my information, two teachers who were outside the establishment were attacked by a man. one was fatally hit, the other injured.

Then the assailant entered the high school and attacked a third victim. The police intervened very quickly, perhaps due to the very close police station or the patrols carried out. He was incapacitated with a Taser, then law enforcement worked to find the other members of his family. His brother was arrested in front of another school. "

A third grade student testified to the newspaper, explaining that the teacher “tried to calm him down and protect us.” According to the teenager, the suspect had “two knives”.

“More than 11 years after the killings perpetrated by Mohammed Merah, opening an endless list of tragedies from Charlie Hebdo to the Bataclan to Arras, it is in the name of the same Islamist ideology that wild obscurantists are shedding blood. ", we can read in a forum.

The disturbing journey of terrorist Mohammed Mogouchkov and his family

A collective expulsion aborted at the last minute, a father sent back to Russia, a mother rejected from asylum, a son imprisoned as part of a planned attack, a second who committed an Islamist attack on Friday: chronicle of fifteen years in France for the Mogushkovs. The family of Mohammed Mogouchkov, who stabbed a teacher in a middle school in Arras on Friday, arrived in France in 2008, according to a police source.

The attacker's route begins to take shape. But the young man, who was arrested by the police, was not the only one in his family to be known to the intelligence services.

The suspect, a young man of 20, presented as Chechen and born in Russia, shouted "Allah Akbar" before committing the murder of the teacher.

Originally from Ingushetia, he had been a student in the establishment where the attack took place. Since last summer, he had been under the surveillance of the DGSI and had been registered in the File for processing reports for the prevention of radicalization of a terrorist nature (FSPRT). He was later classified as a radicalized individual on October 2.

Monitored by intelligence services

Arriving in France in 2008 at the age of 6, he never obtained French nationality. In March 2021, his request for asylum was rejected by Ofpra, followed by a rejection of his appeal in August 2022. However, due to his presence in France before the age of 13, he benefited from protection against removal from French territory.

Intelligence services had been monitoring him for around ten days, using wiretapping and physical surveillance. On Thursday, he was checked without any offense being charged against him, before being released. Initial investigations suggest that this is a radicalized individual who suddenly decided to take action. His younger brother was also arrested near another high school in Arras.

The big brother already condemned

The big brother is also known to the intelligence services and was sentenced this year to five years in prison for “conspiracy of terrorist criminals” and to 18 months for “apology of terrorism”. He is currently detained at the Santé prison in Paris.

In 2019, the DGSI spotted a man suspected of preparing an attack. The investigation revealed that this project involved a trio aiming to attack the surroundings of the Élysée Palace and the police as well as civilians on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. One of the suspects had links via Telegram with the big brother of the Arras attacker, described as a “particularly violent young radicalized person on social networks”.

This led to the arrest of the trio as they prepared to obtain weapons. In addition, the investigation revealed that the big brother had been involved in propaganda activities and had intentions of leaving for Syria for jihad.

And that's not all. During the investigation, the police discovered the existence of an incident at the Gambetta high school in Arras, at the beginning of December 2016. During a course devoted to freedom of expression and specifically to the attacks of Charlie Hebdo, he declared “that the attack took place because they had insulted Muslims.

They insulted Islam by representing the prophet and Shiites are not Muslims." On social networks, he offered an interlocutor "courses in throat-cutting in theory and practice."

An expulsion notice in 2014 In 2016, he made alarming comments at the Gambetta high school in Arras.
In 2013, the family submitted a first request for asylum in France, which was rejected. In 2014, an eviction attempt was initiated, but later canceled due to the mobilization of associations.

Organizations for the defense of foreigners are stepping up actions to prevent it. In a press release dated February 19, 2014, the Rennes branch of the French Communist Party (PCF) welcomed the “mobilization of associations which was able to push back the prefecture […] and free the Mogouchkov family” from the detention center where they had was placed for this operation “on the sly”.

This Friday, an investigation was opened by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) for charges of assassination in relation to a terrorist enterprise, attempted assassination in relation to a terrorist enterprise and terrorist criminal association with a view to prepare crimes against people. The investigations are carried out by the anti-terrorist sub-directorate of the national directorate of the judicial police (SDAT), the national directorate of the judicial police (DNPJ) and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI).

Emotion and anger

“This company constantly produces amnesia…

We forget everything very quickly: between two attacks, between two murdered teachers, we act as if everything was fine!

What are we going to do now?

Shall we go drop off some teddy bears and candles?

Is this what will prevent the next attack?

Many still do not understand who we are dealing with, in particular because this society is incapable of decentering itself but also because of intellectual laziness and flight from reality.

Yes, this one is scary and we will have to confront it.", asserts history professor Iannis Roder, teacher in Seine-Saint-Denis and director of the Education Observatory of the Jean Jaurès Foundation in The Point .