Ilan Halimi

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Memorial plaque for Ilan Halimi in Paris

Ilan Halimi (born October 11, 1982 ; died February 13, 2006 ) was a French Jew of Moroccan origin.

He was abducted by a group of Muslim immigrants on January 21, 2006 and tortured to death in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois over a period of three weeks . The murder caused a public outcry in France.

Life

Ilan's mother Ruth Halimi grew up in Casablanca (Morocco). The family lives in France in the 12th arrondissement of Paris . Ilan last worked as a mobile phone seller. Ruth Halimi published a book in which she describes the 24-day martyrdom of her son.

Course of the crime

On January 21, the 23-year-old Halimi by a 17-year-old French-Iranian woman, Sorour "Yalda" Arbabzadeh was to a residential complex in Paris on behalf of the main perpetrator Youssouf Fofana banlieues , the suburbs of Paris, curly. There, Halimi was overpowered by a gang and held captive for 24 days.

During this time, his captors tortured him by stripping him naked, handcuffing him, then stabbing him with knives, stubbing out cigarettes on his face and body, pouring flammable liquid over him and setting it on fire. Among other things, they wanted to extort a ransom of 450,000 euros from his family.

Once, his kidnappers spilled flammable liquids on him and set them on fire. Neighbors, friends and acquaintances knew about it, guarded the victim, some came by and watched the torture or even participated as the trial turned out. None of them informed the authorities.

On February 13, Halimi was found near a railway line in a Paris suburb. He was naked and handcuffed. 80% of his skin was burned with acid (presumably to destroy traces of his kidnappers). He had numerous stab wounds. Halimi died of serious injuries on the way to the hospital.

In the days that followed, French police arrested 21 suspects linked to the crime, including the woman who served as the decoy. The alleged leader of the group Youssouf Fofana fled to Ivory Coast , where he was arrested by police on February 22nd and extradited to France on March 4th, 2006.

The kidnappers

Much of the group that Halimi kidnapped and called themselves "the barbarians" was Muslim . Those arrested so far are mainly unemployed children of immigrants from African countries. In the end, a total of 25 defendants were convicted as active or passive perpetrators.

Hatred of Jews as a motive

According to then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy , members of the group admitted that their belief in the ubiquitous "Jewish wealth" led them to target various Jews; eventually it hit Halimi. Their choice, however, contrasted with the real circumstances of the Halimi family, who lived in one of the same suburbs as the kidnappers. Police reportedly found Islamic fundamentalist and pro-Palestinian literature while arresting a suspect. Halimi's uncle Rafi told reporters that anti-Semitic Quranic verses were recited in some of the phone calls made by the kidnappers to the victim's family ; for example those who call Jews “monkeys and pigs” or who defame Jews as enemies of Allah. The whole thing was accompanied by the cries of the tortured man, which could be heard in the background.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin declared that the "heinous crime" was anti-Semitic and that anti-Semitism was not accepted in France. During the trial, Fofana railed against “ World Jewry ”.

Reactions in France

The case received enormous coverage in the French media and the French public. Six French associations called for a mass demonstration against racism and anti-Semitism in Paris on February 26, 2006. According to police, 33,000 people took part in Paris, as well as thousands more across the country. Public figures such as Nicolas Sarkozy , Jean-Marie Lustiger and Lionel Jospin were also present. Right-wing politician Philippe de Villiers was booed by left-wing demonstrators and had to leave the demonstration under police protection.

Trial of the perpetrators and prosecution of the decoy Yalda

On April 29, 2009, the trial of Halimi's murderers began before a Paris jury. Contrary to the wishes of the victim's mother, the trial was not conducted in public. The gang leader, Youssouf Fofana, received life imprisonment. Other members of the gang received years of imprisonment, including Yalda Sorour Arbabzadeh, then 17, who served as a decoy. She was sentenced to 9 years in prison. A total of 25 defendants were found guilty and the most heavily incriminated accomplices, Samir Ait Abdelmalek, 30, and Jean-Christophe Soumbou, 23, received prison terms of 15 and 18 years respectively.

Arbabzadeh hit the headlines again in late 2010 because the director of the Versailles women's prison where she was held, Florent Gonçalves, began an affair with her, and an investigation was opened against him. Arbabzadeh received considerable privileges from him. She was released from prison three years earlier.

On October 25, 2010, the appeal proceedings in the Halimi case were opened before the youth jury of the Val-de-Marne department . The sentences of the guards Ilan Halimis were increased.

Attacks on Remembrance

The monument to Ilan Halimi has since been destroyed. A tree that had been planted in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in his memory was sawed off by strangers shortly before Halimi's thirteenth anniversary of his death.

literature

  • Elsa Vigoureux: L'Affaire du gang des barbaren . Flammarion, Paris 2010, ISBN 2-08-124027-0 (In French).

Web links

Media reports

In English :

In French

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Townhall.com:: The rising tide of anti-Semitism :: By Suzanne Fields
  2. ^ A b Hatred and Hope in: Nordbayerischer Kurier, February 26, 2019, p. 2.
  3. ↑ Provocations at the beginning. In: taz.de . April 30, 2009, accessed December 24, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e AP / gr: Crime: "Gang of the barbarians" tortured young Jews to death. In: welt.de . April 28, 2009, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  5. ^ Margit Hillmann: Kidnapped, tortured, murdered. In: deutschlandfunk.de. July 10, 2009, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  6. ^ Sascha Lehnartz: Anti-Semitism: "Barbarian" leader confesses to the torture murder of Paris. In: welt.de . May 29, 2009, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  7. ↑ La Liberation: Autopsy: pas de mutilation . In: Liberation . February 13, 2019 ( wikiwix.com [accessed February 13, 2019]).
  8. ↑ a b Kim Rahir: Anti-Semitism: Torture murder shakes France. In: Spiegel Online . February 22, 2006, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b Lifelong for the boss of the "barbarian gang". In: sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2010, accessed August 10, 2018 .
  10. ^ Paris kidnap gang suspect arrested in Ivory Coast Charles Bremner: France's denial ( Memento of June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: timesonline.co.uk
  11. ↑ a b Nidra Poller: The Murder of Ilan Halimi . The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved March 23, 2007.
  12. ^ Sebastian Rotella: Anti-Semitism Is Alleged in French Torture-Killing . In: The World . The Los Angeles Times . SA3. Retrieved March 23, 2007.
  13. ↑ a b Stefan Ulrich: Yalda, the decoy . 22 year old (triggers) a scandal through her liaison with a prison director. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , # 11 . January 14, 2011, p. 12 (with court drawing: portrait of the "Yalda", as well as details on the circumstances why she left Iran, under what circumstances she then lived in Paris and, among other things, was the victim of gang rape).
  14. ^ Demonstrations against anti-Semitism in France. In: nzz.ch. February 27, 2006, accessed December 24, 2014 .
  15. ↑ netzeitung.de Relatives of the brutally murdered Halimi mocked: - Scandal in the trial for the murder of Parisian Jews ( Memento from May 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ Sascha Lehnartz: "Barbarenbande": Lifelong for brutal murder of Jews. In: welt.de . July 11, 2009, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  17. ↑ L'amour fou d'un directeur de prison pour une détenue. Le Figaro January 13th 2011.
  18. ↑ Ilan Halimi, a 10-year year and tragic legacy , Jewish Journal, March 2, 2016
  19. ↑ Le Nouvel Observateur: "Procès du" gang des barbaren ": les débats ne seront pas publics"
  20. ↑ Brutalité - renegotiated: a court increases the sentences in the appeal process surrounding the murder of Ilan Halimi , Jüdische Allgemeine, December 23, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Halimi, Ilan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Jew of Moroccan origin and murder victim
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1982
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 2006