Sunday April 25, 2021
Jewish woman killed in Paris
Thousands are calling for trial in the Halimi case
The Sarah Halimi case caused horror worldwide in 2017. The Jewish woman was pushed from the balcony of her Paris apartment by a man. The alleged perpetrator does not have to answer in court. There are now protests in several cities – there are also signs of a change in the law.
Thousands of people have protested in France against a court decision not to prosecute the killing of a 65-year-old Jewish woman. Sarah Halimi’s 27-year-old neighbor had beaten the elderly woman in April 2017 while shouting “Allah Akbar” (God is great), quoting verses from the Koran and plunging her over the balustrade of her social building into the depths. The man was declared insane in court because of a psychosis as a result of cannabis and alcohol consumption and has now been in psychiatry for at least 20 years.
The bereaved of the woman complained against it, but were defeated last week before the Paris Court of Cassation, the highest judicial authority in France. You now want to go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to get a trial against the perpetrator.
According to police estimates, more than 25,000 people gathered near the Paris Eiffel Tower at the demonstration, including the leader of the La République en Marche party of President Emmanuel Macron, Christophe Castaner, the former first lady Carla Bruni and the Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. There were also protests in Israel. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the French embassy in Tel Aviv, including several members of parliament.
Macron had spoken out in favor of a change in the law earlier this week, according to which violent criminals should no longer be declared incompetent for drug use. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti announced a corresponding bill this Sunday by the end of May. Paris Mayor Hidalgo said on BFMTV that a street in the capital will bear the name of Sarah Halimi.
The Paris Court of Appeal had ruled at the end of 2019 on the basis of three concurring reports that the perpetrator had acted in a “fit of madness” because of his cannabis and alcohol consumption. He was therefore legally incompetent and could not be convicted.
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