Attack on the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Nice: Six years later, a tribute to the three victims

Six years after the terrorist attack of October 29, 2020, which claimed the lives of Nadine Devillers, Vincent Loquès and Simone Barreto Silva in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption in Nice, a memorial ceremony was held this Thursday morning. Families, authorities and several associations gathered to honor the memory of the victims, as the appeal trial of the perpetrator is scheduled for December 2026.

As it does every year now, the bell tolled this Thursday, October 29, in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption, in Nice. Six years after the terrorist attack that struck this place of worship in the heart of the city, the loved ones of Nadine Devillers, Vincent Loquès and Simone Barreto Silva gathered to pay tribute to them. The ceremony began at 8:15 a.m., in the presence of the mayor of Nice, Éric Ciotti, deputy Bernard Chaix and the prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, Jean-Marie Girier.

Wreaths were laid at the foot of Tobiasse’s Dove of Peace, a memorial work dedicated to the victims. The Niçois present were also able to lay a white rose before the start of the religious ceremony. The grieving families lit a candle before the commemorative plaque bearing the names of the three victims.

Aged 60, Nadine Devillers was a parishioner. Vincent Loquès, 55, served as a sacristan. Simone Barreto Silva, 44, was a mother. All three were murdered on October 29, 2020, during the attack led by Brahim Aouissaoui.

“An unfathomable sadness. That is what a barbarian left behind. It took him only twenty minutes to murder three innocent people,” declared Éric Ciotti during the tribute. The mayor also recalled that the attack targeted, in his words, “eternal France, our Republic and the Catholic faith.”

A tribute marked by the duty of remembrance and the fight against terrorism

Alongside families, several representatives of associations linked to the victims of the July 14, 2016 attack in Nice participated in the gathering. The four municipal police officers who intervened in the basilica on October 29, 2020 were also present. Anthony, Pascal, Loïc and Quentin had neutralized the attacker after he entered the church. Éric Ciotti praised their intervention, as well as that of the national police, firefighters and Smur teams mobilized that morning.

The prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, Jean-Marie Girier, emphasized the collective scope of remembering the victims. “Six years on, the pain they carry is not a private matter, it is ours. That morning, it was not only a church that was struck, it was a freedom,” he said before the families.

The State representative also recalled the republican response to terrorism: “The Republic does not respond with barbarism, with revenge. It responds through law, through justice and through a determination that does not waver.”

In his remarks, Jean-Marie Girier identified radical Islamism as the ideology to be fought, while calling for the preservation of social unity in the face of divisive attempts. “The terrorist wanted Nice to withdraw, for its communities to regard each other with suspicion, for its churches to empty. Six years on, the basilica is open. The faithful come there, tourists enter. The Niçois, of all faiths and convictions, are gathered here. And that is the first defeat of terrorism,” concluded the prefect.

Brahim Aouissaoui retried on appeal in December 2026

The commemoration comes as families must prepare for a new judicial phase. Brahim Aouissaoui, the perpetrator of the attack, was sentenced on February 26, 2025 to life imprisonment with an incompressible security period. This sentence, known as true life imprisonment, constitutes the heaviest penalty provided for under French criminal law.

The appeal trial is to take place in Paris from December 7 to 18, 2026. This new hearing will extend the judicial process of a case that deeply marked Nice and whose consequences remain present for the families of the victims.

On October 29, 2020, around 8:50 a.m., Brahim Aouissaoui attacked several people in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption. Nadine Devillers was killed inside the building. Vincent Loquès was also mortally wounded, while Simone Barreto Silva managed to leave the premises before succumbing to his injuries nearby.

Six years after the events, the ceremony recalled the place of the three victims in Nice’s memory. “In the face of it, we do not bend. We will never bend,” declared Éric Ciotti, denouncing terrorist violence.