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PARIS — A controversial murder case in which the drug-fueled killer of a Jewish pensioner was ruled unfit to stand trial has rocked France, raised concerns about growing anti-Semitism and pitted the president against senior members of the judiciary.
Earlier this month, judges at France’s highest court ruled that in April 2017, Kobili Traoré killed 65-year-old Sarah Halimi while suffering a “delirious fit” fueled by heavy cannabis use and was unaware of what he was doing, and therefore did not have to face trial.
The decision has sparked a wave of public protest across France, with President Emmanuel Macron calling for the law to be changed. On Sunday, thousands of protesters gathered in Paris to demand justice for Halimi.
Macron’s stance has in turn infuriated magistrates who say meddling politicians are a threat to judicial independence. The government is aiming to introduce a new bill on the matter by end of May.
“Deciding to take drugs and subsequently become ‘like crazy’ should not in my opinion abolish criminal responsibility,” Macron said.
Members of the Jewish community in France say the no-trial is the latest blow after a series of high-profile attacks against Jews.
“The relatives are angry, but I won’t lie to you, they were not surprised by the ruling,” said Gilles-William Goldnadel, lawyer for Halimi’s sister Esther Lekover. “We have become used to the justice system being in denial [about anti-Semitism].”
The Halimi case was only belatedly labeled an anti-Semitic attack.
In a recent book, several public figures say Halimi’s death is an example of a new type of anti-Semitism in France, fueled by radical Islamism. Several attacks in the last few years have specifically targeted the Jewish community — although the book’s theory itself is controversial among scholars.
Macron has vowed to fight what he calls Islamist separatism in France, pushing three bills on security through parliament in the last year. New measures include additional restrictions on wearing religious signs for public service employees, new online hate speech offenses, and stricter checks on the foreign financing of mosques.
With presidential elections looming next year, observers say Macron is seeking to occupy ground covered by the far-right’s Marine Le Pen, who has blamed the rise of radical Islamism for the Halimi case and other anti-Semitic crimes. The far-right leader, who has tried hard in recent years to distance herself from her father Jean-Marie, who repeatedly denied the Holocaust, has been trying to position herself as a defender of the Jewish community.
Members of the French justice system say the courts never denied the attack against Halimi was anti-Semitic, but ultimately ruled that the perpetrator was not in the state of mind to stand trial.
The case against the killer
Traoré and Halimi lived in the same social housing block of flats in the 11th district of Paris. Traoré, a 27-year-old drug user with a history of petty crime, lived on the second floor, while Halimi, a 65-year-old Orthodox Jew, lived on the third floor.
In April 2017, Traoré broke into Halimi’s flat, beat her up and threw her off the balcony. During the attack, Traoré chanted verses from the Quran and shouted “Allahu Akbar,” the court heard.
Psychiatrists who examined Traoré concluded that he attacked his neighbor in a drugged frenzy, but disagreed over whether he was aware of his actions. In December 2019, a lower court ruled that Traoré was unaware of his actions, a verdict that was confirmed by France’s highest court this month.
According to the court ruling, a group of experts concluded that Traoré suffered from a “delirious fit” and “a chronic state of psychosis” that “temporarily suspended his awareness.” They wrote that Traoré increased his intake of drugs to calm his mounting anxieties, a move that worsened his psychotic descent.
With no possibility of appealing the ruling, Halimi’s relatives are taking their case to Israel, where courts can examine cases of anti-Semitism in other countries. They are also considering appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.
France does not extradite its citizens but Halimi’s lawyers hope that a guilty verdict in Israel would be a “symbol and a comfort for the family.”
Permit to kill?
The case has sparked a fierce debate about whether loopholes in French law mean the use of drug can be used to avoid trial.
Lawmakers from Macron’s La République En Marche party say the law needs to be fixed.
“Driving under the influence, or taking drugs to go and commit a crime, are simple cases that are covered by the current legislation, but there are much more complex cases,” said Yaël Braun-Pivet, a MP for Macron’s party. “Our law on criminal irresponsibility is very general and doesn’t distinguish between the different reasons that have caused the state of irresponsibility.”
But the move has provoked fierce opposition among judges, who say the parliamentary anger is a knee-jerk reaction to an individual case that has upset the public.
“It’s an odious crime, and it’s an emotional time,” said Sarah Massoud of France’s Union of Magistrates, “but it’s irresponsible and dangerous to say we are going to reform the notion of criminal irresponsibility in the heat of the moment.”
High-profile attacks
The ruling has focused the attention on the fight against anti-Semitism in France after several deadly attacks against French Jews in recent years.
The overall number of anti-Semitic acts in France has not increased significantly over the past decade, according to figures published by the Jewish safety watchdog the SPCJ in 2019, but the violence of high-profile attacks has shocked many.
Recent attacks include a deadly terrorist attack on a Kosher supermarket in the Paris suburbs in 2015 and the murder of a Holocaust survivor in her home in 2018.
Jean-Yves Camus, an expert on political extremism in France, said France is in denial about anti-Semitism.
“There is a form of incredulity after the horror of what happened in the Second World War,” he said. “We think we are immune to a return of anti-Semitism.”
“There are new forms of anti-Semitism, not just radical Islam and the traditional variety on the extreme-right, but also those who have cultural prejudices against Jews,” he said.
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