The man who stabbed to death a French schoolteacher last week had recorded himself before the attack saying he was acting for the Islamic State group, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The suspect is due to appear before a judge to be formally charged, while two of his teenage relatives are also facing prosecution for aiding or failing to stop the attack.
Mohammed Moguchkov, who is in custody after attacking a high school in Arras in the north of France last Friday, recorded audio in which he pledged loyalty to Islamic State and a short video that showed him railing against what he called "French values", anti-terrorism prosecutors said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The suspect also made a "very marginal" reference to the attacks on Israel by Hamas, a source close to the case told French news agency AFP. The recordings have not been made public.
Moguchkov, 20, is due to appear before an investigating magistrate later on Tuesday to be charged.
His 16-year-old brother is also facing charges for aiding the suspect, notably by helping with "handling knives", according to prosecutor Jean-François Ricard. A 15-year-old cousin is also under investigation for failing to stop the attack.
Moguchkov has so far refused to speak to investigators, a police source told AFP.
Born in Russia's mainly Muslim northern Caucasus region, he was on France's terrorism watch list and had been under surveillance by France's domestic intelligence agency since July.
Authorities have also linked his father and older brother to Islamist extremism.
Second alert at Versailles
The attack triggered a massive security response in France, which issued a maximum alert nationwide.
An extra 7,000 soldiers were deployed and several prominent offices and tourist sites have been evacuated after receiving threats, including the Louvre Museum and Palace of Versailles.
Versailles was evacuated for a second time on Tuesday for security reasons, reportedly linked to another bomb threat. Along with the Louvre, the palace was shut on Saturday by precaution, with no one hurt at either site.
🌍 Dear visitors,
— Château de Versailles (@CVersailles) October 17, 2023
For security reasons, the Palace of Versailles is evacuating visitors and closing its doors today Tuesday October 17. Thank you for your understanding pic.twitter.com/tDBghI4Uhk
The Lycee Gambetta high school in Arras, the scene of the deadly attack, was also evacuated on Monday after police received a bomb threat. It turned out to be a false alarm.
President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday that Islamist terrorism was returning to Europe, after a Tunisian man shot dead two Swedes in Brussels on Monday also claiming inspiration from Islamic State.
"All European states are vulnerable," Macron told reporters in the Albanian capital Tirana, where he is attending an EU-Balkan summit.
"We all have a vulnerability. It's what comes with being a democracy, a rule-of-law state where there are individuals who can decide at a given moment to commit the worst acts," he said.
He insisted there were "no failures" by French security services ahead of the stabbing in Arras.
Focus on Caucasus
Macron's office said he would attend the funeral of the victim, 57-year-old literature teacher Dominique Bernard, on Thursday.
Three other people wounded in the attack are expected to survive, prosecutors said.
The French president has called on police to comb through their files of radicalised people who could be deported, focusing especially on young men from the Caucasus between the ages of 16 to 25.
The interior ministry said on Tuesday it would seek to expel 11 Russians who were on an official list of dangerous radicals.
Mogouchkov is the latest in a string of people involved in terrorist attacks in France since 2018 who come from the Muslim-majority parts of the Caucasus.
Between 20,000 to 40,000 people from the North Caucuses live in France, but the French domestic intelligence agency DGSI reports that they represented a large number of those who left France to join the Islamic State group in Syria starting in 2012.
Mogouchkov's younger sister, who was arrested after the Arras attack but has since been released, told investigators she had seen her brother become increasingly radical in his religous beliefs and described him as "violent", according to her lawyer, Mikaël Benillouche.
(with AFP)
