As Quebec City’s Muslim community continues to grapple with the after-effects of the attack of the Jan. 29 attack on their mosque, the accused shooter made a brief appearance in court on Thursday, saying he had changed his lawyer.
Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, faces six counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Mamadou Tanou Barry, Ibrahima Barry, Azzeddine Soufiane, Abdelkrim Hassane, Khaled Belkacemi and Aboubaker Thabti.
He also faces five counts of attempted murder as a result of the attack when a gunman burst into the mosque and opened fire during a prayer service.
Two victims remain in hospital in intensive care.
Meanwhile, the president of the mosque, the Centre Cultural Islamique de Quebec, says survivors are struggling to survive psychologically.
“They’re living through a serious psychological situation,” Mohamed Yangui told reporters on Thursday.
“They still live in terror. They don’t feel at ease anywhere.”
Yangui said that two of the shooting victims remain in hospital in intensive care and that three incidents since the attack have further alarmed the community.
In one case, he said, the mosque received a threatening letter and there were two other incidents when suspicious men showed up at the mosque’s door.
The suspicious men “ask for money or say things, and when we start asking them questions, they take off,” he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the attack an act of terrorism, but the RCMP has not decided whether to lay formal terrorism charges against Bissonnette, who was a student at Laval University.
Canadians have donated thousands of dollars to support the victims’ families and two law firms are providing free legal advice to the Muslim community.
In the aftermath of the attack, friends described Bissonnette as an introvert who held anti-Muslim views and was a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump and French Front National leader Marine Le Pen.
Bissonnette is due back in court on May 29.
With files from The Canadian Press, the Montreal Gazette (Andy Riga), the Globe and Mail (Ingrid Peritz).
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.