Image Credit: GABRIEL BOUYS / Contributor / Getty 
Just three years ago, in Marseille, a young 40-year-old military doctor, Alban Gervaise, was brutally murdered by Mohammed—“in the name of Allah”—in front of his children’s school. There was no minute of silence or national tribute for him. His widow has just learned with horror that her husband’s murderer will not be tried because he has been deemed “mentally unfit to stand trial.”
On May 10th, 2022, Alban Gervaise went to pick up his two children, aged 3 and 7, from a Catholic school in Marseille, accompanied by his youngest daughter, who was then 20 months old. The military doctor was attacked by a madman who stabbed him repeatedly while shouting “Allah Akbar.” He succumbed to his injuries about ten days later.
The brutal murder of Alban Gervaise did not interest the media. A few rare media outlets reported the death of this man “wounded in the throat”—they preferred not to mention that his throat had been slit. A Catholic, a soldier, a husband, and a father, Alban Gervaise was not entitled to a public tribute. The military claimed that his wife had refused to publicise the case, which she vehemently denied. But the public silence surrounding the case suited many people. For Alban’s military friends, “this media silence is a second death.”
As in so many other similar cases, the psychiatric assessment of the suspect, 23-year-old Mohammed L., concluded that he was ‘completely incapable of discernment.’
From the outset, Christelle Gervaise, the doctor’s wife, was alarmed by the conditions under which the psychiatric assessment was carried out. “It is based on what the defendant says. I cannot accept that an expert report is not based on facts,” she explains, pointing out that there is no reference to the investigation file in the psychiatric report.
Very quickly, the terrorist dimension of the act was ruled out, much to the dismay of Alban Gervaise’s family and friends. “If the savage murder of my colleague, as a person, was the result of chance, I remain convinced that the choice of targeting a Catholic school to find a victim was certainly not due to chance,” a retired doctor from Laveran Military Hospital told the weekly magazine Marianne, whose view is widely shared. “There was clearly a desire to punish, to kill, to sacrifice a Christian! This has the same value as if it had happened in a church or in front of a school of another faith! To my knowledge, all the previous incidents have been classified as terrorist acts. Their impact at national and media level has been quite different.”
Today, we are learning of the dramatic consequences of Mohammed L.’s psychiatric assessment. He is said to have acted in a state of diminished responsibility due to an “acute delusional episode” in the context of early schizophrenia and cannabis use. He is therefore considered mentally unfit to stand trial and will not be tried by a criminal court. He will escape prison but remain in compulsory hospitalisation for an indefinite period. Since the murder, Mohammed L. has been imprisoned and then transferred to a psychiatric hospital. He was then taken to a unit for less dangerous individuals, according to Le Figaro. Two psychiatric experts will have to approve his possible release—a moment that Christelle Gervaise dreads more than anything, because she knows that he could be out in a very short time and potentially re-offend. She will not be informed of his potential release and could meet the man in the street one day or another.
Shehas published a poignant testimony in which she asks that one day, at least, the French state will ask for forgiveness:
I hope that one day your country, which you loved so much and to which you were so loyal, will ask for your forgiveness.
Forgiveness for failing to pay tribute to you, a military doctor, lieutenant colonel, associate professor at Val-de-Grâce, devoted father and model citizen.
Forgive us for letting you die for nothing.
Forgive us for allowing your murderer to destroy other lives.
