Twenty-seven people are to go on trial in Paris for the kidnapping and killing of a young Jewish man that shocked France three years ago. A gang targeting Jews in ransom kidnappings has been blamed for the abduction and brutal torture of the victim, Ilan Halimi. The alleged gang leader, Youssouf Fofana, faces murder charges and life imprisonment if found guilty. The killing prompted large demonstrations against anti-Semitism.
Ilan Halimi, 23, was kidnapped and brutally tortured for more than three weeks before he was found naked and tied to a tree near a railway track in the suburbs south of Paris. He had been stabbed and set alight and he died on his way to hospital. Youssouf Fofana, the leader of a Paris gang known as The Barbarians, is accused of carrying out the attack. He is alleged to have instructed gang members to target Jews and to kidnap them until their families paid a ransom. He originally admitted murdering Halimi but has since declared his innocence. The other defendants have been indicted on minor charges.
