Modena, psychiatric evaluation for Salim El Koudri: capable of understanding and wanting

For the first time since May 16, Salim El Koudri appeared in front of some of his victims, hit in the street by his car driven at high speed.

Angelo Ciccarelli, the husband of Monica Esposito, the 55-year-old who died after two months in hospital, was in the closed-door courtroom of the Modena court for the discussion of the psychiatric report which ascertained the suspect's capacity for understanding and will.

Still suffering from his injuries, in a wheelchair, accompanied by some relatives, Ciccarelli chose not to speak to journalists outside.

As well as chef Ermanno Muccini, who was also among the eight injured in the attack, albeit less seriously.

El Koudri entered from a side entrance of the courthouse, his face covered by the hood of a blue sweatshirt.

He sat next to his defender, Fausto Gianelli, a few meters from the injured and their families.

The expert report, presented to the judge and the parties by Matilde Forghieri and Giuseppe Sartori, confirmed that at the time of the facts the 31-year-old accused of the massacre was fully capable of understanding and will: he had no mental illness capable of determining a total or partial mental defect.

"The illicit conduct - are the conclusions of the experts - does not constitute the symptomatic expression of a mental disorder, but rather the outcome of an action motivated by frustration, resentment and demonstrative claims, implemented with operational clarity and preserved self-determination".

It was explained in court that there is no causal link between the symptoms of El Koudri, who had previously been treated in a mental health centre, and his action.

The experts then point out in the suspect "traits of social avoidance, marked insecurity, rigidity of thought with a paranoid imprint", below the threshold compared to the criteria for mental disorders.

The Modena Prosecutor's Office, having concluded the investigation, is now preparing to draw the line.

At the moment the aggravating circumstance of terrorism is not disputed, which would shift jurisdiction to Bologna and open up a question of compensation for the State.

But the requests of at least two defenses of the injured parties focus on this.

The lawyer Deborah De Cicco, who assists Giovanni Esposito, Monica's brother, has appointed an ad hoc technical consultant, an expert in jihadism.

And even today he underlined: "From the beginning we have maintained that the motivation is ideological, to be traced back to the IT material already in the documents, i.e. all the rather alarming web research he carried out, the substrate on which he moved".

Web searches, among other things, for attacks by Islamic extremists in Europe.

And also for the lawyer Liborio Cataliotti, for other relatives of Esposito, it is beyond question that El Koudri acted with a very specific purpose, to make demands, to demonstrate the ideals of a terrorist-Islamic origin.

The lawyer cites, among other things, the four videos that the 31-year-old recorded in the hours before the attack, filming himself in selfie mode with his cell phone, delirious videos (never sent to anyone), where he talks about hatred and the destruction of Italy.

And a web account containing the date of September 11th.

Even for the defender, the lawyer Gianelli, who maintains El Koudri's incapacity, the videos are important, but for a different reason: "They are useful elements for evaluating and perceiving his conditions in the moments preceding the events".

The experts appointed by the investigating judge, explained the defender himself, however addressed the issue by saying only that "the language of the videos is an emulation of the 'trap-dissing' linguistic register"