Photo: Johanna Rolland / twitter.com

On the morning of 18 July, a major fire occurred in the Cathedral of saints Peter and Paul in Nantes

Photo: Johanna Rolland / twitter.com

Charged with arson in Nantes in Western France, the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul of the XV century brought 39-year-old refugee from Rwanda, reports TASS with reference to the newspaper Le Monde. He faces a sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of 150 thousand euros, are the words of the Prosecutor of Nantes.

The suspect, helped in the parish, admitted that he lit the fire on the main body, on the small and on at the electrical panel. The charges for “damage to or destruction of property of others in the fire”.

The suspect’s lawyer said that his client is cooperating with the investigation. According to the lawyer, a man he deeply repented.

The BFMTV, citing a source close to the investigation said that the accused is present in France since 2012, and was obliged to leave French territory at the end of 2019. His residence permit expired in March of this year and became invalid. Before the fire in the Cathedral of the offender was not seen in other violations of the law.

The rector of the Cathedral of Nantes Champenois Hubert admitted that he fully trusted the defendant, who for several years served in the Church.

We will remind, in the morning on 18 July, a major fire occurred in the Cathedral of saints Peter and Paul in Nantes. It was extinguished hundreds of firefighters. Within a few hours they managed to localize and ultimately to suppress the fire, however, was completely destroyed on a large, partially broken strength building, burned a significant portion of the interior of the Church. From the very beginning of the investigation, the version of arson was a priority.

The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul was laid in Nantes in 1434, it was built 457 years until 1891. He is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals of France. The July fire was not the first time the existence of the temple. In 1972, the fire burned its roof. To eliminate the consequences of fire took 13 years. For the parishioners of the Cathedral was opened again only in 1985.