The persecution continues in France after shooting a Greek Orthodox priest

Updated 10 hours ago

THE FRENCH POLICE RELEASED an initial suspect in the shooting of a Greek Orthodox priest and expanded the search for the gunman who seriously wounded the priest when he closed the door of his official residence in a church in the city of Lyon.

The Lyon prosecutor’s office said a man who was arrested shortly after Saturday’s shooting was released after they found no evidence of his involvement, suggesting that the clergyman’s attacker was still at large.

The priest remained in critical condition after being shot with a hunting rifle, a police official said.

Police cordons in the vicinity of the church, located in a residential area in central Lyon, were removed and the search area was extended to the wider area of ​​Lyon, the national police service said.

The attack came as France is under high-security alert after the murder of three people in a Nice church on Thursday, amid global tensions over cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad published in a French newspaper.

The French prime minister has promised more protection for religious sites.

It also came amid tensions within the Greek Orthodox community in Lyon. The priest, a Greek citizen, had had a long-running legal dispute with a former monk who was convicted of defamation, according to French media reports.

The Holy Greek Orthodox Diocese of France identified the victim as Father Nikolaos Kakavelakis and said he was scheduled to return to Greece after working at the Lyon church. “We pray for a speedy recovery and unequivocally condemn all forms of violence,” he said.

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church in France, Emmanuel Adamakis, told the French radio station Europe 1 that Kakavelakis no longer performed services in Lyon and “had been asked to return to Greece.”

The attack appeared to have taken place in a small courtyard at the rear of the church, where the priest had been living in an official church apartment, Adamakis said.

Antoine Callot, pastor of another Greek Orthodox church in Lyon, said the Greek Orthodox community in the city has not received any threats, but said he immediately asked the police for security protection at his church after Saturday’s shooting.