BAMAKO: The body of a 22-year-old Malian man stabbed to death in a mosque in France has been repatriated for “a final tribute”, Mali’s religious affairs ministry said on Thursday. Aboubakar Cisse was stabbed during his prayers in the southern town of La Grand-Combe on April 25. Olivier Hadzovic, a 20-year-old French national of Bosnian origin, is suspected of stabbing Cisse 57 times and filming him as he writhed in agony. He surrendered to police in Italy and is awaiting extradition to France.

Cisse’s body was received around 2:00 am (0200 GMT) at President Modibo-Keita-Senou International Airport in the Malian capital Bamako “in an atmosphere filled with emotion and reflection”, the ministry said on Facebook.

“Aboubakar Cisse leaves behind the memory of a committed and respected man. The entire country bows to his memory.” Cisse’s body was then transported under escort to his family home for funeral rites, the message said. A religious ceremony was due to take place in the morning.

“Several authorities, supporters, and family members were present to pay a final tribute to this worthy son of the country,” the message said, adding that the religious affairs minister and his counterpart in charge of Malians living abroad were present. Cecile Gensac, the prosecutor in the southern French city of Nimes, said Hadzovic had been “driven by a fierce desire to kill someone and failing that, to commit suicide”. Hadovic admitted to killing Cisse in his first statement to Italian investigators but, according to his lawyer, denied acting from hatred of Islam, saying he had “killed the first person he found” in his path.

Cisse, nicknamed “Bouba”, was born in Mali in 2003. He crossed the Mediterranean and arrived in the Paris region in 2018, his uncle told AFP. He travelled to the south of France in 2019 because “he did not want to be a burden” on relatives. — AFP