Ilan Halimi
Encyclopedia
Ilan Halimi was a young French
Jewish man (of Moroccan
parentage) kidnapped on 21 January 2006 by a gang
called "the Gang of Barbarians" (Gang des Barbares) and subsequently torture
d, over a period of three weeks, resulting in his death
. The murder was motivated by antisemitism and money.
A total of 27 people were accused as implicated in the crime and were tried for kidnapping and murder in 2009. Gang leader Youssouf Fofana (born 1980 in Paris
to immigrants from Ivory Coast) was convicted to a life sentence, eligible for parole after 22 years (the maximum penalty under French law). Others received shorter prison sentences, some suspended, and three were acquitted.
While Fofana's life sentence is definite, 14 of the 27 verdicts were appealed. The convictions were upheld on appeal in December 2010.
children of immigrants from African countries. In total, 27 individuals were under investigation and were subsequently put on trial. Currently, 19 of those individuals have been convicted and imprisoned. These include:
Youssouf Fofana:Youssouf Fofana (25; b. 2 August 1980), the self-proclaimed "Brain of the Barbarians". He was born in Paris
to immigrants from Ivory Coast and served three to four years in prison for various crimes including armed robbery and resisting arrest
. In an interview he denied killing Halimi, but showed no sign of remorse for his extreme cynicism.
Christophe Martin-Vallet:
Christophe M-V, aka "Moko", a 22-year-old Martinique
French man, specializing in computers. He appears to have masterminded the kidnappings and to have been the lieutenant of Fofana. He was monitoring the honeypot
activities of the girls.
Sorour Arbabzadeh: Sorour Arbabzadeh aka "Yalda" (or "Emma"), a seventeen-year-old French-Iranian
girl who acted as a honeypot to lure Halimi into the gang's lair.
Jean-Christophe Gavarin:Jean-Christophe Gavarin, aka "Zigo", aka "JC" aged 17, one of the individuals who tortured Ilan.
Gilles Serrurier:"The concierge
," Gilles Serrurier (39; b. 1967), of the banlieu to which Halimi was taken, who lent his attackers the apartment and cellar in which they tortured and killed him.
where Halimi was killed. For two hours the attackers tortured the young man. One shoved cigarette butts into his mouth, another took issue with Roumi's Jewish origin (paternal), grabbed correction fluid and scrawled "dirty Jew" and an anti-gay insult on his forehead. When the issue of his sexual orientation arose, one of them placed a condom on the tip of a stick and shoved it in Roumi's mouth. The six men proceeded to scream at him and threaten that he would die the way Halimi did. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961212.htmlhttp://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/03/030608frahat.htmhttp://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i2f43zIQfjvnfeF25znLL0gSWswwD8V7H0C80
and a desire for money.
Police have attributed to the banlieues' gang subculture a "poisonous mentality that designates Jews as enemies along with other 'outsiders,'" such as Americans
, mainstream French, and Europe
ans in general. "If they could have gotten their hands on a (non-Jewish) French cop in the same way, they probably would have done the same thing," a retired police chief opined.
accompanied by Halimi's tortured screams.
The French-Arab and African-Muslim ringleaders recited verses from the Koran in their communications with the family, while Ilan's tortured screams could be heard in the background. It also appeared the gang had an interest in Palestinian
group Hamas
, as its propaganda material was found by the kidnappers.
, Jean-Marie Lustiger and Lionel Jospin
. Right-wing politician Philippe de Villiers
was booed by far-left militants and had to leave under police guard.
, Emilie Freche stated that “by denying the anti-Semitic character, [police] did not figure out the profile of the gang.” The book details how Ilan's parents were told to stay silent during the ordeal and were ordered not to seek aid in order to pay the ransom, nor show their son's photo to people who might have come forward with information about his whereabouts.
In an interview with Elle Magazine
on March 27, 2009, Ruth wrote that “The police were completely off the mark. They thought they were dealing with classic bandits, but these people were beyond the norm.” Halimi stated that she wrote the book to “alert public opinion to the danger of anti-Semitism which has returned in other forms, so that a story like this can never happen again.”
On May 9, the Helsinki Commission
held a briefing titled "Tools for Combating Anti-Semitism: Police Training and Holocaust Education" chaired by Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) who said: "His tragedy made brutally clear that Jews are still attacked because they are Jews, and that our work to eradicate all forms of anti-Semitism in all its ugly forms and manifestations is far from done."
cemetery Israel on Friday, Feb. 9, 2007.
It was timed to allow his first Yartzeit, on Tu Bishvat
, to pass before the reburial. The date and time (11:30am) also marked "exactly one year after his burial in France according to the Jewish Calendar."
In May 2011, a garden in the XIIème arrondissement of Paris was renamed after him. Ilan used to play in this garden as a child.
Notwithstanding requests for an open public trial by many, including Halimi's mother and the family of key suspect Youssouf Fofana, the trial was held behind closed doors.
The judge defended his exclusion of the public and the media by saying that two of the 27 suspects were juveniles at the time of the crime. French law does not require open trials for juveniles.
When the judge refused to quiet Fofana, the Halimi family and their lawyer (who previously said "It was the law of silence that killed Ilan Halimi and it has imposed itself again" regarding the decision to bar journalists from the trial) left the courtroom.
A report dated approximately halfway into the trial's projected 10 weeks was headlined "Court tosses defendant in Halimi trial after he hurls shoes" and it noted that "reports about the trial are communicated through intermediaries who have access to the trial."
Other reports indicated that, as a result of this incident, the judge suspended the trial.
Subsequent reports dated about 2 weeks later indicated that the prosecution's counsel, Philippe Bilger, recommended life in prison for ring-leader Youssouf Fofana, 20 years for Fofana's two closest associates, and 12 years for the woman who lured Halimi to his death.
Murder victim Ilan Halimi's mother and other Sabbath observers
were "absent from the court Friday night because of the Sabbath."
Sentences for the others varied, while verdicts for suspects who were minors at the time of the crime were not publicly disclosed. Samir Aït Abdelmalek, 30, and Jean-Christophe Soumbou, 23, the two main accomplices, were sentenced to 18 and 15 years.
Also sentenced to 15 years was a third defendant, who was a minor at the time of the kidnap/murder.
Sorour Arbabzadeh aka "Yalda" or "Emma", a then-17 year old French-Iranian girl who acted as a honeypot to lure Halimi into the gang's lair, was sentenced to 9 years.
The verdict
of this trial included acquittals for two of those on trial and one or more suspended sentences.
, announced an appeal of 14 out of the 27 verdicts, including those of the two main co-defendants, Samir Aït Abdelmalek (15 years, prosecution asked for 20 years) and Jean Christophe Soumbou (18 years, prosecution asked for 20 years).
Richard Prasquier, president of CRIF
, France's main Jewish organization, said that a law may soon be available that would preclude closed-door trials in this type of case. "Perhaps in a year's time there will be a new trial, and perhaps it will be public."
A Halimi relative said: "The important thing for me is not handing out heavier jail terms, honestly. The important thing is to open this to the press and public and make it a learning experience."
The retrial was officially announced Monday 10 July 2009. It started on 25 October 2010 and ended on December 17, 2010, with all convictions upheld and time added to some sentences.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Jewish man (of Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
parentage) kidnapped on 21 January 2006 by a gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
called "the Gang of Barbarians" (Gang des Barbares) and subsequently torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d, over a period of three weeks, resulting in his death
Torture murder
Torture murder is a loosely defined term to describe a murder where death has been preceded by the torture of the victim. In many legal jurisdictions a murder involving "exceptional brutality or cruelty" will involve a harsher sentence.-Punishment:...
. The murder was motivated by antisemitism and money.
A total of 27 people were accused as implicated in the crime and were tried for kidnapping and murder in 2009. Gang leader Youssouf Fofana (born 1980 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to immigrants from Ivory Coast) was convicted to a life sentence, eligible for parole after 22 years (the maximum penalty under French law). Others received shorter prison sentences, some suspended, and three were acquitted.
While Fofana's life sentence is definite, 14 of the 27 verdicts were appealed. The convictions were upheld on appeal in December 2010.
Timeline of the crime
According to press reports based on information from French criminal investigation authorities, as of 25 February 2006 the crime is believed to have happened as follows:- On 20 January, Halimi was lured by an attractive seventeen year old girl named Yalda, of French-Iranian origin, to an apartment block in the Parisian banlieueBanlieueIn francophone areas, banlieues are the "outskirts" of a city: the zone around a city that is under the city's rule.Banlieues are translated as "suburbs", as these are also residential areas on the outer edge of a city, but the connotations of the term "banlieue" in France can be different from...
s. - There Halimi was overwhelmed by a youth gang and kept prisoner for twenty-four days.
- Halimi was initially guarded by four teenagers who were promised €5,000. During the three-week period, his kidnappers, at least 19 of them, tortured him by beating him all over his body, especially his testicles, completely wrapping his head in duct tape, except for his mouth, so he could breathe and eat through a straw, stabbing him, burning his body and face with lighters and cigarettes, sodomizing him with broom sticks and breaking his fingers in order to extract a ransomRansomRansom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence...
of initially 450,000 Euros from his family. They urinated on him, kept him naked, scratched him, cut him with knives, and finally poured gasoline on him and set him on fire. Reportedly, neighbors came by to watch and to even participate in the torture but no one called the authorities. - Halimi was found naked, handcuffed, and bound with nylon rope to a tree about 40 yards inside a woodlot from a railway outside Paris, on February 13. A list of cases of the 'bystander effect' reported that more than 80% of his body had been burned with acid, as well as gasoline (possibly to destroy evidence of his captors' DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
), to the point that he was difficult to recognize. He had severe contusions, blood blisters, and hematomas covering most of his body, to the point that he was more blue than flesh-colored, multiple broken bones, one ear and one big toe missing, and his testicles looked like “blackened oranges.” Halimi died en route to a hospital. - In the subsequent days, French police arrested 21 persons in connection with the crime, including the woman used as bait. The leader of the gang, Youssouf Fofana, fled to his parents' homeland of Ivory Coast, where he was arrested on 23 February. Fofana was extraditedExtraditionExtradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
back to France on 4 March 2006.
The kidnappers and their associates
Implicated in the crime are the members of a youth gang calling themselves "les barbares" (the Barbarians). The people so far arrested are mostly unemployedchildren of immigrants from African countries. In total, 27 individuals were under investigation and were subsequently put on trial. Currently, 19 of those individuals have been convicted and imprisoned. These include:
Youssouf Fofana:Youssouf Fofana (25; b. 2 August 1980), the self-proclaimed "Brain of the Barbarians". He was born in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to immigrants from Ivory Coast and served three to four years in prison for various crimes including armed robbery and resisting arrest
Resisting arrest
Resisting arrest is a term used to describe a criminal charge against an individual who has committed, depending on the jurisdiction, at least one of the following acts:* threatening a police officer with physical violence while being arrested...
. In an interview he denied killing Halimi, but showed no sign of remorse for his extreme cynicism.
Christophe Martin-Vallet:
Christophe M-V, aka "Moko", a 22-year-old Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
French man, specializing in computers. He appears to have masterminded the kidnappings and to have been the lieutenant of Fofana. He was monitoring the honeypot
Clandestine HUMINT asset recruiting
This section deals with the recruiting of human agents who work for a foreign government, or other targets of intelligence interest. For techniques of detecting and "doubling" host nation intelligence personnel who betray their oaths to work on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency, see...
activities of the girls.
Sorour Arbabzadeh: Sorour Arbabzadeh aka "Yalda" (or "Emma"), a seventeen-year-old French-Iranian
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
girl who acted as a honeypot to lure Halimi into the gang's lair.
Jean-Christophe Gavarin:Jean-Christophe Gavarin, aka "Zigo", aka "JC" aged 17, one of the individuals who tortured Ilan.
Gilles Serrurier:"The concierge
Concierge
A concierge is an employee who either works in shifts within, or lives on the premises of an apartment building or a hotel and serves guests with duties similar to those of a butler. The position can also be maintained by a security officer over the 'graveyard' shift. A similar position, known as...
," Gilles Serrurier (39; b. 1967), of the banlieu to which Halimi was taken, who lent his attackers the apartment and cellar in which they tortured and killed him.
Assault on Mathieu Roumi
On February 22, 2008, six members of the "Barbarians" assaulted 19-year-old Mathieu Roumi in the same Paris suburb of BagneuxBagneux, Hauts-de-Seine
Bagneux is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Transport:Bagneux is served by Bagneux station on Paris RER line B...
where Halimi was killed. For two hours the attackers tortured the young man. One shoved cigarette butts into his mouth, another took issue with Roumi's Jewish origin (paternal), grabbed correction fluid and scrawled "dirty Jew" and an anti-gay insult on his forehead. When the issue of his sexual orientation arose, one of them placed a condom on the tip of a stick and shoved it in Roumi's mouth. The six men proceeded to scream at him and threaten that he would die the way Halimi did. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961212.htmlhttp://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/03/030608frahat.htmhttp://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i2f43zIQfjvnfeF25znLL0gSWswwD8V7H0C80
Motives
The kidnapping seems to be motivated by a combination of anti-semitismAnti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and a desire for money.
Police have attributed to the banlieues' gang subculture a "poisonous mentality that designates Jews as enemies along with other 'outsiders,'" such as Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, mainstream French, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
ans in general. "If they could have gotten their hands on a (non-Jewish) French cop in the same way, they probably would have done the same thing," a retired police chief opined.
Attempted extortion
The kidnappers originally thought Halimi was wealthy because he came from a Moroccan Jewish family, though he came from the same poor and working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris as the kidnappers did.- The kidnappers demanded ransom, initially EUR 450,000; this then dropped to EUR 5,000.
- The French police initially believed that anti-Semitism was not a factor in the crime.
- As the investigation progresses, this gang appears to have been implicated in at least 15 other cases of racketeering. Posing as members of the National Front for the Liberation of CorsicaNational Front for the Liberation of CorsicaThe National Liberation Front of Corsica is a militant group that advocates an independent state on the island of Corsica, separate from France. They also want all currently imprisoned members of the FLNC in France to be put into Corsican prisons. The organisation's presence is primarily in...
or member of the French division of the PFLPPopular Front for the Liberation of PalestineThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
, they threatened several high ranking CEOs including Jérôme Clément, président of the European TV operator ArteArteArte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
, Rony BraumanRony BraumanRony Brauman, born June 19, 1950, in Jerusalem, is a French physician specializing in tropical diseases.He was one of the early members of Médecins Sans Frontières , and was its president from 1982 to 1994...
, former president and co-founder of Médecins Sans FrontièresMédecins Sans Frontières' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...
, and the CEO as well as another high-ranking member of a large company selling home applianceHome applianceHome appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooking or cleaning. Home appliances can be classified into:*Major appliances, or White goods*Small appliances, or Brown goods...
s. They sent threatening pictures of an unknown man dressed as a middle-eastern Arab in front of a picture of Osama Bin LadenOsama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. In another case, the owner of a large grocery storeGrocery storeA grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
was directed to pay 100,000 euros.
Antisemitism
- According to then Interior Minister Nicolas SarkozyNicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, members of the gang confessed that they believed all Jews to be rich and it motivated them to target several Jews, culminating with Halimi. This starkly contrasts with the reality of the Halimi family's working-class circumstances; they and many other poor and working-class Jews inhabited the same lower-class banlieueBanlieueIn francophone areas, banlieues are the "outskirts" of a city: the zone around a city that is under the city's rule.Banlieues are translated as "suburbs", as these are also residential areas on the outer edge of a city, but the connotations of the term "banlieue" in France can be different from...
as the attackers. - The French prime minister, Dominique de VillepinDominique de VillepinDominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....
declared that the "odious crime" was antisemitic, and that antisemitism is not acceptable in France.
Muslim fundamentalism
Halimi's uncle Rafi told reporters that some of the telephone calls to the victim's family involved recitations from the Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
accompanied by Halimi's tortured screams.
The French-Arab and African-Muslim ringleaders recited verses from the Koran in their communications with the family, while Ilan's tortured screams could be heard in the background. It also appeared the gang had an interest in Palestinian
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
group Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, as its propaganda material was found by the kidnappers.
Public reaction
The case has found an enormous echo in the French media and in the French public. Six French associations called for a mass demonstration against racism and antisemitism in Paris on Sunday, 26 February. Between 33,000 (as estimated by police) and 80,000 to 200,000 (as estimated by the organizers) people participated in Paris, as well as thousands around the country. Also present were public figures such as Nicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, Jean-Marie Lustiger and Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...
. Right-wing politician Philippe de Villiers
Philippe de Villiers
Viscount Philippe Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers, born on 25 March 1949, is a French politician. He was the Mouvement pour la France nominee for the French presidential election of 2007. He received 2.23% of the vote, putting him in sixth place. As only the top...
was booed by far-left militants and had to leave under police guard.
Criticism of police response
Ruth Halimi, Ilan's mother, subsequently co-authored a book with Emilie Freche entitled “24 Days” that was released in April 2009. In the book, Ruth claimed that French police never suspected her son's kidnappers would kill the 23-year-old after three weeks in captivity in 2006, partly because they would not face the anti-Semitic character of the crime, the French daily Le Figaro reported. In an interview with Le FigaroLe Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
, Emilie Freche stated that “by denying the anti-Semitic character, [police] did not figure out the profile of the gang.” The book details how Ilan's parents were told to stay silent during the ordeal and were ordered not to seek aid in order to pay the ransom, nor show their son's photo to people who might have come forward with information about his whereabouts.
In an interview with Elle Magazine
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
on March 27, 2009, Ruth wrote that “The police were completely off the mark. They thought they were dealing with classic bandits, but these people were beyond the norm.” Halimi stated that she wrote the book to “alert public opinion to the danger of anti-Semitism which has returned in other forms, so that a story like this can never happen again.”
International reaction
The event caused an international outcry.On May 9, the Helsinki Commission
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe , also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is an independent U.S. Government agency created by Congress in 1976 to monitor and encourage compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE commitments. It was established in 1976 pursuant to...
held a briefing titled "Tools for Combating Anti-Semitism: Police Training and Holocaust Education" chaired by Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) who said: "His tragedy made brutally clear that Jews are still attacked because they are Jews, and that our work to eradicate all forms of anti-Semitism in all its ugly forms and manifestations is far from done."
Reburial in Israel
At the request of the family, the remains of Ilan Halimi were reburied in Har HaMenuchotHar HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel. It is located at the western edge of the city adjacent to the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, with commanding views of Mevaseret Zion to the north, Motza to the west, and Har Nof to the south.-History:...
cemetery Israel on Friday, Feb. 9, 2007.
It was timed to allow his first Yartzeit, on Tu Bishvat
Tu Bishvat
Tu Bishvat or Tu B'Shevat is a minor Jewish holiday, occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat . It is also called "The New Year of the Trees" or...
, to pass before the reburial. The date and time (11:30am) also marked "exactly one year after his burial in France according to the Jewish Calendar."
In May 2011, a garden in the XIIème arrondissement of Paris was renamed after him. Ilan used to play in this garden as a child.
2009 trial
The trial began Wednesday, 29 April 2009.Notwithstanding requests for an open public trial by many, including Halimi's mother and the family of key suspect Youssouf Fofana, the trial was held behind closed doors.
The judge defended his exclusion of the public and the media by saying that two of the 27 suspects were juveniles at the time of the crime. French law does not require open trials for juveniles.
Incidents during the trial
Fofana claimed in court that he had friends who would "take pictures to identify people." Francis Szpiner, lawyer for the Halimi family, believed that Fofana was alluding to the jurors, and was implying that he was going to put a price on their heads.When the judge refused to quiet Fofana, the Halimi family and their lawyer (who previously said "It was the law of silence that killed Ilan Halimi and it has imposed itself again" regarding the decision to bar journalists from the trial) left the courtroom.
A report dated approximately halfway into the trial's projected 10 weeks was headlined "Court tosses defendant in Halimi trial after he hurls shoes" and it noted that "reports about the trial are communicated through intermediaries who have access to the trial."
Other reports indicated that, as a result of this incident, the judge suspended the trial.
Subsequent reports dated about 2 weeks later indicated that the prosecution's counsel, Philippe Bilger, recommended life in prison for ring-leader Youssouf Fofana, 20 years for Fofana's two closest associates, and 12 years for the woman who lured Halimi to his death.
Verdict and sentencing
On Friday, 10 July 2009, Fofana was sentenced to life, with minimum of 22 years of imprisonment. Under French law, he is eligible for parole after 22 years.Murder victim Ilan Halimi's mother and other Sabbath observers
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
were "absent from the court Friday night because of the Sabbath."
Sentences for the others varied, while verdicts for suspects who were minors at the time of the crime were not publicly disclosed. Samir Aït Abdelmalek, 30, and Jean-Christophe Soumbou, 23, the two main accomplices, were sentenced to 18 and 15 years.
Also sentenced to 15 years was a third defendant, who was a minor at the time of the kidnap/murder.
Sorour Arbabzadeh aka "Yalda" or "Emma", a then-17 year old French-Iranian girl who acted as a honeypot to lure Halimi into the gang's lair, was sentenced to 9 years.
The verdict
Verdict
In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. The term, from the Latin veredictum, literally means "to say the truth" and is derived from Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman: a compound of ver and dit In law, a verdict...
of this trial included acquittals for two of those on trial and one or more suspended sentences.
2010 retrial
The sentences issued after the first trial were criticized as too lenient, and the attorney general, upon the instigation of Minister of Justice Michèle Alliot-MarieMichèle Alliot-Marie
Michèle Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie, born 10 September 1946 and nicknamed MAM, is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement . A member of all but one right-wing governments of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, she was the first woman in France to hold the portfolios of Defense , the...
, announced an appeal of 14 out of the 27 verdicts, including those of the two main co-defendants, Samir Aït Abdelmalek (15 years, prosecution asked for 20 years) and Jean Christophe Soumbou (18 years, prosecution asked for 20 years).
Richard Prasquier, president of CRIF
Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France
Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France is an umbrella organization of French Jewish organizations. CRIF opposes anti-Semitism and policies that they perceive to be anti-Semitic....
, France's main Jewish organization, said that a law may soon be available that would preclude closed-door trials in this type of case. "Perhaps in a year's time there will be a new trial, and perhaps it will be public."
A Halimi relative said: "The important thing for me is not handing out heavier jail terms, honestly. The important thing is to open this to the press and public and make it a learning experience."
The retrial was officially announced Monday 10 July 2009. It started on 25 October 2010 and ended on December 17, 2010, with all convictions upheld and time added to some sentences.
Books
- 24 Days: The Truth about the death of Ilan Halimi, by his mother, Mrs. Ruth Halimi (co-authored by Emily Frêche)
- If This Is A Jew: Reflections on the Death of Ilan Halimi, by Adrien Barrot, Jan. 2007, ISBN 978-2841863648
In English
- The barbarians of Europe: The brutal murder of Ilan Halimi, By Tom GrossTom GrossTom Gross is a British-born journalist and international affairs commentator, specializing in the Middle East. He was formerly Jerusalem correspondent for the London Sunday Telegraph and for the New York Daily News...
, The Jerusalem PostThe Jerusalem PostThe Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, 28 February 2006 - Killing in France Seen as 'Wake-Up Call', The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, 25 February 2006 - Anti-Semitism seen rising among France's Muslims, The Boston GlobeThe Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, 13 March 2006 - Trial opens into alleged gang kidnap, torture and murder of French Jew, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 29 April 2009 - Torture-slaying raises fear of anti-Semitic resurgence, San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, 26 February 2006
In French
- Les événements heure par heure, timeline of events from Le Nouvel ObservateurLe Nouvel ObservateurLe Nouvel Observateur is a weekly French newsmagazine. Based in Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation ....
, 24 February 2006 - Itinéraires d'une bande meurtrière, LibérationLibérationLibération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...
, 22 February 2006