Firefighters combating towards the hearth in Nantes cathedral, July 18, 2020. – Laetitia Notarianni / AP / SIPA
The investigation into the hearth at Nantes cathedral has simply skilled a twist. The person arrested on July 18 and launched the subsequent day with out prosecution was once more taken into police custody. The prosecution then indicted him and positioned him in pre-trial detention in a single day from Saturday to Sunday for “destruction and damage by fire”. The felony observe is now privileged, confirmed the prosecutor of the Republic of Nantes, Pierre Sennès.
The rector of the cathedral had “confidence in him”
The 39-year-old man arrested once more was chargeable for closing the cathedral the day earlier than the hearth. It’s a couple of “Rwandan, came to take refuge in France a few years ago”, defined final week the rector of the cathedral of Nantes, the daddy Hubert Champenois. In line with him, the volunteer is “serving an altar” and he had identified him “for four or five years”. “I trust him as in all collaborators,” he defined.
In line with Pierre Sennès, “the offense referred to in the opening indictment of the prosecution is punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 euros”. After the hearth, no signal of break-in was discovered, however the investigation revealed the existence of three separate fireplace factors in Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul Cathedral. It took about two hours for the firefighters to comprise the hearth, which notably destroyed a 19th century portray by Hippolyte Flandrin and the nice organ.
