Guinean academic murdered in racist attack

Mamoudou Barry, a Guinean academic who had just obtained his PhD in France, has been murdered in an apparently racist attack.

Barry, 31 years old and married with a two-year old daughter, arrived in France in 2012 to study law at Rouen-Normandie University. He received his doctorate on 27 June for his dissertation on tax and customs policies concerning foreign investments in Francophone Africa.

“His dissertation was brilliant. The jury members praised his work,” Le Parisien quoted Johanna Guillaumé, head of the department of law at the university, as saying. “His courses were much appreciated; he was respected for his research work, teaching abilities and kindness.”

He was a defender of rights and equality, and was angered by the French government’s decision to charge much higher fees to foreign students from countries outside the European Union from the 2019-20 university year. According to his Guinean friend and colleague Kalil Aissata Kéita, interviewed in Le Monde, he had quoted the French constitution of 1946 which laid down “the organisation of free and secular public education at all levels” as a “duty of the state”.

He was very active in voluntary activities and advisory services, organising conferences and working for Thinking Africa, an institute of research and education for peace, reported Le Monde.

Joël Alexandre, president of Rouen-Normandie University told Le Monde: “He was a very thoughtful, very present man who listened a lot. He should have had a great future.”

Barry was beaten to death on Friday 19 July by a man who had shouted racist insults at him. A man, described as “French of Turkish origin”, was later arrested on suspicion of murder, and has been transferred to a psychiatric hospital. – Compiled by Jane Marshall.

This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.