A gang of 28 Muslims known as 'the barbarians' go on trial today accused of the 24-day torture and murder of a young Jewish man that appalled France due to its brutality and apparent anti-Semitism.
Ilan Halimi: The 23-year-old was in a state of shock and unable to talk, his body covered with burns, cuts and bruises, and he died en route to hospital.
Ilan Halimi was lured into a honey trap, kidnapped and tortured for three weeks, before being found naked and handcuffed to a tree near a railway track in February 2006.
The 23-year-old was in a state of shock and unable to talk, his body covered with burns, cuts and bruises, and he died en route to hospital.
The alleged gang leader, Youssouf Fofana, and 26 others are to answer various charges during the trial, which will be held behind closed doors before a Paris juvenile court because two defendants were minors at the time of the crime.
Prosecutors describe Mr Fofana, 28, as a "perverted megalomaniac" bent on kidnapping Jews for ransom "because they are loaded with dough" and "stick together". He escaped to the Ivory Coast shortly after the murder but was arrested and extradited to France.
Also known as "Ossama" and "Mohammed", Mr Fofana initially admitted to the murder but has since changed his story several times, often lapsing into unintelligible anti-Semitic rants. He has switched lawyers almost 40 times and has already served a one-year jail sentence for insulting officers and a judge.
The French-born son of Ivorian immigrants is the only defendant facing a life sentence, while 15 others are facing charges of kidnapping and sequestering.
As the gang's alleged ringleader, he is accused of stabbing Mr Halimi and dousing his body with rubbing alcohol before setting him alight because the victim "looked at him in the eyes" before he was let go.
Several other defendants are friends and family members of the gang, who come from the Paris suburbs and who are being prosecuted for having failed to report an offence.
Mr Halimi went missing on January 20, 2006 while on a date with a 17-year old girl he had met at the mobile phone store where he worked near République, central Paris.
It is alleged the girl turned out to be an accomplice of Mr Fofana and part of a well-prepared plot to lure him to a basement of a building in a Paris suburb. There, he was attacked, subdued with ether, handcuffed and his feet and mouth bound with tape.
He was moved to an empty apartment in the Paris suburb of Bagneux. Mr Fofana demanded 450,000 euros from his family. Photographs showing the hostage blindfolded and gaunt, and an audio message of the hostage pleading for his life were released by his captors. A videotaped plea was also sent to the captive's parents.
When no ransom was forthcoming, Mr Fofana's accomplices turned against the gang leader, arguing the kidnapping had gone far enough, say prosecutors.
On February 13, Mr Fofana told them he planned to release Mr Halimi, who was loaded into the trunk of a stolen car. Three hours later, a train driver spotted his nude body next to the railroad tracks and alerted police.
He died on the way to hospital. The then president, Jacques Chirac, met the parents and promised to bring the culprits to justice.
The victim's mother has accused police of having botched the investigation by ruling out anti-Semitism as a factor in the crime. "If Ilan wasn't Jewish, he wouldn't have been killed," she claimed.
Ruth Halimi is expected to urge the court to open the hearings to the public today to provide a full accounting of her son's death.
But Michel Wieviorka, the author of a book on anti-Semitism in France, said: "The motive was money first and anti-Semitism was an additional factor. But at the outset, it was not aimed at expressing hatred toward Jews."
Prosecutors believe the gang had used women to lure nine other men in the kidnapping scheme but that these attempts failed. The "Barbarians" also tried to racketeer several doctors and company bosses.
All deny murder.
Source: Telegraph UK
H/T GH
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