An 84-year-old man who has been accused of setting fire to the main entrance of a mosque in the French town of Bayonne and shooting two people, died in hospital on Wednesday, media reports say.
The prosecutor of Mont-de-Marsan, Olivier Janson, has opened an investigation to determine the cause of the death of Claude Sinke, Le Parisien wrote. The man was imprisoned at the Mont-de-Marsan Penitentiary Center since October 30, 2019 “under the provisional detention regime.”
Sinke wanted to “avenge the destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral,” which he claimed was done by Muslims, prosecutor Marc Mariee said in late October last year, when the attack occurred. Sinke, who had received military training in his youth, was reportedly a candidate for local elections in 2015 under the banner of Marine Le Pen’s party, the National Front, now known as National Rally.
The party condemned the attack, saying that Sinke had been removed from the party for “speech judged contrary to the spirit and the political line of the National Rally,” and had since not participated in any action of the movement.