Ilan Halimi's Murderers On Trial ~ Reut R. Cohen

Here is an excerpt from Abe Selig's piece in the Jerusalem Post:

A crime that brought religious tensions to a boiling point in France and shook the world Jewish community to its core was thrust back into the spotlight on Wednesday, as a self-proclaimed "gang of barbarians" went on trial for the murder of Ilan Halimi, a French-Jewish cellphone salesman who was kidnapped, tortured and found dying near a railroad track south of Paris in February 2006.

Halimi, who was 23 at the time of his murder, was reportedly lured by a young French-Iranian woman to his kidnappers' lair in a housing project in Bagneux - a southern suburb of Paris - in late January 2006. There, he was overpowered by a gang of some 21 Arab and African youths, who, using a key provided by the housing project's janitor, tied Halimi to a chair in the basement, where he was savagely tortured for the next 24 days.

Halimi was found on February 13, 2006, naked, tied and handcuffed to a tree near a railroad track in the Parisian suburbs, with burns from acid and flammable liquid covering 80 percent of his body, multiple stab wounds, as well as a severed ear and toe. He died on his way to the hospital.

Now, with the trial under way in Paris, the wounds from 2006 are reopening painfully. At the start of the proceedings on Wednesday, the gang's alleged leader, a French national born to immigrants from the Ivory Coast named Youssouf Fofana, entered the courtroom yelling "Allahu akbar," and scuffles broke out between his supporters and Jewish youths who had gathered at the courthouse to voice their outrage over the crime.

Bearded and wearing a white tracksuit, Fofana gave his identity during formal questioning by the judge as "Arabs African, Salafist revolt, barbarian army," recalling his gang's self-appointed name, "Les Barbares" - the Barbarians.

Fofana also reportedly smirked at Halimi's family members in the courtroom and, in a further provocation, the 28-year-old said he was born on February 13, 2006, in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois- the exact date and location of Halimi's death.

Members of the French-Jewish community told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that, just as the grisly murder in 2006 sent tensions soaring between Parisian Jews and Muslims, the trial itself has once again highlighted the deep rifts that exist between the two communities, who often live side-by-side in the blue-collar, low income banlieues, or outlying suburbs of Paris.

"A few days before the trial began, some young Jews tried to put up Ilan's picture around Paris, and they were confronted by groups of Arabs," Serge Golan, a reporter for the Hamodia newspaper in Paris told the Post. "Fights broke out between the two sides. The trial is certainly bringing back all the old tensions, if they ever really went away in the first place."

Another point of contention, Golan explained, was now over the framing of the crime itself. Fofana stands accused of kidnapping, sequestration, torture and murder - but the charge sheet also includes anti-Semitism, which French law considers an "aggravating circumstance" requiring the stiffest sentences. Fofana faces life in prison.

"The Jewish community understands that this was an anti-Semitic crime, that Halimi was killed because he was Jewish," Golan said.

But Fofana's lawyers, Golan continued, have attempted to frame the murder not as an anti-Semitic murder, but a kidnapping with the sole intent of financial gain.

However, even in that version of the story, Fofana and the others who have been accused, allegedly singled out Halimi because he was Jewish, and "his family had money."

Click here to read Selig's entire article.

The trial is to last until July 10. It remains to be seen if France will effectively prosecute these criminals as authorities were initially in denial that the murder of Ilan Halimi was a premeditated, antisemitic attack.

Also See:
- Halimi's Murderers On Trial, London's 7/7 Bombers Go Free & 150 Killed in Iraq
- Death Sentences, Life Sentences, The FBI & CAIR