Modena court rules Salim El Koudri fit for trial over fatal May car attack

Psychiatric evaluation and court findings

A preliminary court hearing in Modena determined on 2 October 2026 that 31-year-old Salim El Koudri had the mental capacity to understand his actions during a vehicular assault in May 2026. The three-hour proceeding before the judge for preliminary investigations examined expert evaluations submitted by psychiatrists Matilde Forghieri and Giuseppe Sartori. The court experts concluded that El Koudri suffered from a bipolar personality disorder and narcissistic fragility, but retained the capacity to form intent and evaluate reality. They determined that his actions stemmed from cold anger, frustration over professional failures, and feelings of social grievance rather than an acute loss of reason.

If there had been an officer with a gun pointed at him in the back seat that day, would Salim El Koudri have acted the same way? Our answer is no.

The 16 May attack in central Modena

The charges against El Koudri stem from an assault on 16 May 2026 in the city centre of Modena. El Koudri drove his Citroen C3 into a crowd of pedestrians, injuring eight people before crashing the vehicle into a shop window. After the collision, he exited the car and attempted to flee on foot while brandishing a knife at bystanders who tried to block his escape. One of the injured pedestrians, 55-year-old Monica Esposito, died in hospital two months after the attack. El Koudri attended the hearing under the custody of prison police, remaining sedated and medicated while avoiding eye contact with the victim's family members present in the courtroom, including Esposito's husband Angelo Ciccarelli and brother Giovanni Esposito.

Defense arguments and medical claims

Defense attorney Fausto Gianelli argued that El Koudri suffered a severe psychiatric episode that compromised his mental capacity during the incident. Gianelli pointed to medical records documenting previous visits to a mental health centre as evidence of a disabling illness. The defense emphasized that El Koudri drove entirely normally and observed all traffic regulations during his trip toward Modena, before accelerating abruptly upon reaching the city entrance. According to Gianelli, this sudden shift indicated an impulsive psychotic fit rather than premeditated violence, challenging the court experts' finding that the defendant was capable of standing trial.

The prosecution did not charge the aggravating factor of terrorism today, which means that in the prosecution's view, it is not there.

Terrorism charges and civil party reaction

The public prosecutor declined at the hearing to add the aggravating factor of terrorism or premeditation to the indictment, concluding that the assault was not directed by a terrorist organization. Investigators discovered videos and documents linked to ISIS and jihadist propaganda on El Koudri's mobile phone and social media accounts, but the judge found insufficient evidence to classify the motive as an organized terrorist act. Legal representatives for the civil parties strongly contested this determination in court. Lawyer Deborah De Cicco, representing Giovanni Esposito alongside technical consultant Alberto Caputo, announced plans to appeal the exclusion of terrorism charges.

Our battle is aimed exclusively at establishing the truth of the facts, namely that he acted driven by a terrorist purpose.