One year after the murder of Dominique Bernard in front of the Gambetta-Carnot school complex in Arras, on October 13, 2023, three people are charged. This is the murderer Mohammed Mogouchkov, a Russian of Ingush origin who is now 21 years old, a former student of the literature professor and “signed” by Islamist radicalization, his younger brother and his young cousin.
Mohammed Mogouchkov was charged on October 17 with “murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise,” as well as “criminal terrorist association.” In addition to the murder of Dominique Bernard, he seriously injured the face of a sports teacher who had tried to intervene. When chasing the latter to the establishment’s patio, he also injured two employees who tried to intervene. Police officers who arrived at the scene a few minutes later subdued Mohammed Mogouchkov using an electric pulse gun, making him one of the few high-profile jihadist terrorists arrested alive.
During his interrogations, Mogouchkov claimed that he had deliberately attacked French teacher Dominique Bernard, because he taught “one of the themes where we transmit passion, love, attachment to the general system of the Republic, democracy, human rights”. A source close to the case asks, however, that these statements, which suggest that Mohammed Mogouchkov had planned to kill Dominique Bernard, be taken with caution.
Deadly eight-minute trip
What is certain is that the attacker first intended to attack a history and geography teacher, like Abdoullakh Anzorov, the Russian murderer of Chechen origin of Samuel Paty, murdered near his school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), in October 2020: Mohammed Mogouchkov had also asked people he encountered during his deadly eight-minute journey what their teaching subject was, thus saving a mathematics teacher, according to Isabelle Bernard, the teacher’s widow.
His desire to break with France is impeccable: “O French, people of cowards and infidels. I was in your schools, I lived for years and years among you, free of charge. (…) “You taught me what democracy and human rights are and you pushed me to hell.”declared in particular. During the investigation, Mohammed Mogouchkov repeated that he had acted alone, developing a plan to “one to three weeks” before the attack. In a video published before the attack, he had already claimed responsibility for his action on behalf of the Islamic State (IS).
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