Salim El Koudri, the 31-year-old in prison for speeding through pedestrians in the centre of Modena, allegedly asked for cigarettes, but also for a Bible and to speak to a priest .

"I got out because I was dying that day. I didn't want to hurt anyone," he said in a prison interview with his lawyer, Fausto Giannelli, referring to what happened last Saturday. It was a vague and hazy account, with memories that often had to be prompted by his lawyer. "I was going as fast as I could," he also said. And when informed of the conditions of the injured, including the woman who lost her legs, he reportedly replied: "What a terrible thing."

The young man, who is in solitary confinement, is charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault. Bologna prosecutors have not yet discovered any terrorist elements.

Investigators are trying to reconstruct his personality and understand whether the attack was inspired by the copying of massacres committed in recent years in Europe, particularly those in Nice and Berlin.

And four emails sent in just over an hour on April 27, 2021, to the University of Modena, where El Koudri had graduated and where he was asking for a job, came to the attention of the investigators.

“You have to make me work as an employee, not a warehouse worker, and here in Modena, not somewhere in the hell, where you’ll have 500 euros a month in your pocket if you’re lucky.” Then, after a few minutes: “Let me work.” Then the “Christian bastards” one. And again: “ You Christian bastards of shit, you and your Jesus Christ on the cross. I’ll burn him. ” Finally the apology: “Sorry for the rudeness.”

Salim El Koudri has been an Italian citizen since September 27, 2009, at the age of 14. His family arrived in Ravarino in 2000: "He attended primary school in the village, and the teachers," explains Mayor Maurizia Rebecchi, "let us know that he was doing very well; he was a model student . He did the same at secondary school in Bomporto, so he was absolutely a child like all the others." The young man later attended high school in Modena and graduated with a degree in business administration. Unlike his parents, he did not associate with the local Islamic community.

"The anti-terrorism system has revealed no flaws," claims Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi . On the subject of repatriations, he contradicts Salvini: "I share his concern for more sustainable immigration management, but we're talking about something else here. We work on repatriations for foreign criminals, but here we're talking about an Italian citizen ."

Piantedosi also underlined how a "very evident" component of the subject is the " psychiatric distress, regardless of anything the investigators may establish" .

The wounded

Meanwhile, the 69-year-old German woman admitted to Baggiovara Hospital in Modena has been extubated and is conscious. She was the last person struck by the car driven by El Koudri, who severed both her legs in the impact, one of the four most seriously injured. The prognosis remains guarded.

The two patients admitted to Bologna's Maggiore Hospital—a 55-year-old Italian couple—are both in intensive care in stable condition. The female patient has multiple injuries; her condition is slightly improving but remains critical and the prognosis is guarded. The male patient, also with multiple injuries, is stable and no longer in immediate danger of dying, but the prognosis is guarded.

The 53-year-old Polish woman, still in serious condition, presents a stable clinical picture, the prognosis remains guarded.

The 59-year-old Italian patient with facial trauma, confirming the prognosis of 30 days in total already communicated yesterday, presents a stable and good clinical condition.

(Unioneonline/L)

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