A French court on Wednesday handed a four-year jail term to a Rwandan for starting a fire that severely damaged a Gothic cathedral in the western French city of Nantes in 2020.
The court ruled that Emmanuel Abayisenga, a volunteer at the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, was not mentally sound at the time of the fire, AFP news agency reported.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court also banned Mr Abayisenga from staying in the Loire-Atlantique region, where Nantes is located, for five years, and prohibited him from bearing weapons.
Mr Abayisenga is also facing legal action for a separate incident in which he allegedly killed a priest in western France in 2021.
He reportedly asked for asylum in France several times, unsuccessfully, and in 2019 received a deportation order.
French prosecution said the defendant set fire to the cathedral knowingly due to "huge anger and a feeling of revenge linked to his administrative situation".
The fire was contained but the church's famous 17th-century organ, which had survived the French Revolution and bombardment during World War II, was destroyed, AFP added.
Priceless artefacts and paintings were also destroyed in the attack.