Shortly after his incarceration, Mohammed Mogouchkov, indicted for the murder of Dominique Bernard in October 2023 in Arras, wrote a long handwritten poem of eight pages, where he expresses his hatred towards “atheists” and violently criticizes the symbols of French Republic.
In his verses, he particularly attacks Marianne, a republican emblem: “And Marianne, how beautiful she is! But how is it sacred? », rejecting the moral authority of the Republic and denouncing what he perceives as the usurpation of the Earth by those who “squat” its mountains, rivers and palm trees.
Allegiance to ISIS
Also in this poem, Mohammed Mogouchkov, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, refers to experiences of life in France which seem to have deeply shocked him. He criticizes the diversity of classes and the teaching of biology, mentioning “plastic penises” distributed during lessons, which would have exacerbated his feeling of rejection of the West. A passage which illustrates a deep unease with sexuality and nudity, two subjects which he considers to be in contradiction with his personal and religious beliefs.
In February 2024, an expert psychologist examined Mohammed Mogouchkov as part of the investigation carried out in Paris. He described a young man marked by a “probable identity divide”, caught between “family references” strongly influenced by the radicalization of his father, registered as S and expelled from France in 2018, and his schooling in a French education system which was foreign. He also underlined a “self-justified and theorized claim” of his actions, showing a “vengeful and persecutory” tone.
Impervious to deradicalization attempts
In this text, he also attacks attempts at deradicalization, which he considers ineffective: “Call your imam, so he can deradicalize me. LOL, he will have tried,” he wrote with sarcasm. He mocks the authorities’ ability to “extinguish the light of Allah” in him, setting himself up in opposition to the “enlightenment” of French writers, whom he accuses of having “darkened” the heart of his teacher.
Mohammed Mogouchkov also criticizes France’s external military operations, which he compares to a modern form of colonization, thus reinforcing his denunciation of Western imperialism. Questioned by the anti-terrorism judges, Mohammed Mogouchkov explained that he had specifically chosen Dominique Bernard as a target because the latter represented for him “love” of France, a symbol that he wanted to attack.
