Abdalmasih H. refuses to speak about the motives behind his attack on children in the French Alpine town of Annecy.
A man detained in connection with the stabbing of six people, including four children, in the French Alpine town of Annecy has been charged with “attempted murder”, prosecutors said.
Abdalmasih H “did not want to speak” during his 48 hours in police custody, nor before the magistrates leading the investigation, prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis told a news conference on Saturday.
He was examined by a psychiatrist who considered his state of health compatible with arrest.
“At the moment it is premature to judge his motivations,” Bonnet-Mathis said, reiterating that the attacker’s motivations were not known.
She added that the victims were no longer in mortal danger.
The 31-year-old Syrian national was detained in connection with Thursday morning’s attack. French authorities said he was recently denied asylum in France because Sweden granted him permanent residence and refugee status 10 years ago.
The youngest child attacked is 22 months old. Two of the children are two years old, and the oldest is three. Two have French nationality, the other two are British and Dutch.
Two adults also suffered lacerations. One of the adults was injured both by the attacker’s knife and later by a police shot when they made the arrest, Bonnet-Mathis said.
France has been rocked by a number of violent incidents in recent months, including the fatal stabbing of a nurse in the northern city of Reims in May. Also last month, a drunk driver accidentally killed three police officers.
French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced what he calls a “de-civilization process” in the country, while opposition lawmakers say his administration has been too lax on law and order.
Macron and his wife Brigitte visited the injured children in the hospital in Grenoble on Friday during a visit.
He warned against jumping to conclusions in the case.
“Clearly we need transparency and every effort must be made to prevent this kind of drama from happening again, but after we have done preparatory work,” he said.