Murder of Ilan Halimi

The murder of Ilan Halimi was the kidnapping, torture, and murder of a young Frenchman of Moroccan Jewish ancestry in France in 2006. Halimi was kidnapped on 21 January 2006 by a group calling themselves the Gang of Barbarians. The kidnappers, believing that all Jews are rich, repeatedly contacted the victim's modestly placed family demanding very large sums of money. Halimi was held captive and tortured for three weeks, and died of his injuries. The case drew national and international attention as an example of antisemitism in France.

Kidnapping

Halimi was a mobile phone salesman living in Paris with his divorced mother and his two sisters.
On 20 January 2006, one of the perpetrators, Sorour Arbabzadeh, a 17-year-old girl of French-Iranian origin, went to the phone store in Paris where Halimi worked and struck up a conversation with him. She eventually asked for Halimi's number, which he gave to her, and left the store. The woman called him the next evening and told him to come to her apartment for a drink. He was lured to an apartment block in the Parisian banlieues where he was ambushed and held captive by the group upon arrival. No one saw or heard from Halimi until the next afternoon, when his sister received an email containing a picture that showed Halimi gagged and tied up to a chair with a gun to his head. In text, the abductors threatened his life and demanded €450,000 from his family, stating that they would kill him if they went to the police. Not having the money, though, Halimi's family had no other option than to contact the police.
The abductors, who called themselves the Gang of Barbarians, tortured him and sent phone and video messages to his family while they were in contact with the police. During the 24 days of abduction, the leader of the gang, Youssouf Fofana, managed to travel back and forth to his home country of Ivory Coast. At some point he was suspected of being related to the gang and was taken to the police station, but they were forced to release him due to a lack of proof of his connection to the group. The demand for ransom, initially elevated at €450,000, diminished as the abductors got more anxious with the attention they were drawing from the police and media.
After three weeks and no success in finding the captors, the family and the police stopped receiving messages from the captors. Halimi, severely tortured, burned, and unclothed, was dumped next to a road at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois on 13 February 2006. He was found by a passer-by who immediately called for an ambulance. Halimi died from his injuries on his way to the hospital.
The decision by the police to keep certain matters secret was seen as counter-productive, and may have prevented a facial composite of Sorour Arbabzadeh, the girl who lured Halimi to the apartment. Investigation showed that more than 20 people, some of them teenagers, took part directly or indirectly in the kidnapping. Some of them later claimed they never knew his fate, and Arbabzadeh, later sent a letter to his family to say how sorry she was.
A woman, referred to as Audrey L., surrendered after the police had released a facial composite picture. She pointed to the Barbarians, a gang of African immigrants who had perpetrated similar abductions in the past. In the subsequent days, French police arrested 15 people in connection with the crime. The leader of the gang, Youssouf Fofana, who had been born in Paris to parents from the Ivory Coast, fled to his parents' homeland together with Arbabzadeh. They were arrested on February 23 in Abidjan and extradited to France on 4 March 2006.

Ransom

The kidnappers originally thought Halimi was wealthy because he came from a Jewish family. According to then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, members of the gang confessed that they believed all Jews to be rich, and it motivated them to target several Jews.
The kidnappers demanded ransom, initially €450,000, eventually decreasing to €5,000. It has been claimed that the family of Halimi was told that if they could not raise the money, they should get it from the Jewish community.
In order to convince Halimi's parents their son had been kidnapped, the abductors sent a picture of the young man being threatened by a gun and holding a newspaper to prove the date and time.

Police investigation

The French police were heavily criticized because they initially believed that antisemitism was not a factor in the crime. Police attributed to the banlieues' gang subculture a "poisonous mentality that designates Jews as enemies along with other 'outsiders,'" such as Americans, mainstream French, and Europeans in general. "If they could have gotten their hands on a French cop in the same way, they probably would have done the same thing," a retired police chief opined. This may have hampered the original investigation. Antisemitism is an aggravating circumstance in a murder case in France.
Ruth Halimi, Ilan's mother, subsequently co-authored a book with Émilie Frèche titled 24 jours: la vérité sur la mort d'Ilan Halimi, released April 2009. In the book, Ruth claimed that French police never suspected her son's kidnappers would kill the 23-year-old after three weeks in captivity in 2006, partly because they would not face the antisemitic character of the crime. Émilie Frèche stated that "by denying the anti-semitic character, ... did not figure out the profile of the gang." The book details how Ilan's parents were told to stay silent during the ordeal and were ordered not to seek aid in order to pay the ransom, nor show their son's photo to people who might have come forward with information about his whereabouts.
In an interview with Elle Magazine on 27 March 2009, Ruth Halimi stated that "The police were completely off the mark. They thought they were dealing with classic bandits, but these people were beyond the norm." Halimi stated that she wrote the book to "alert public opinion to the danger of anti-semitism which has returned in other forms, so that a story like this can never happen again".

Gang of Barbarians

The crime was committed by a group of persons belonging to a gang calling themselves. Many of them had criminal records and had been imprisoned. A total of 27 people were accused of involvement in the crime and were tried for kidnapping and murder in 2009. One person was acquitted and the rest were convicted. Gang leader Youssouf Fofana was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 22 years before the possibility of parole. The woman who had lured Halimi to his abduction was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. Two of his close associates, Jean-Christophe Soumbou and Samir Ait Abdel Malek, received 18 and 15-year prison terms respectively, and Malek's prison term was later increased to 18 years upon appeal. Six others convicted over their involvement received sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years imprisonment, and seven others received sentences ranging from 8 months to 11 years imprisonment. While Fofana chose not to appeal his sentence, 14 of the 27 verdicts were appealed by the prosecution. The convictions were upheld on appeal in December 2010. In 2017, a Paris court sentenced Fofana to an additional 10 years imprisonment for other extortions he had committed.
During the investigation it appeared that key members of the group were probably implicated in at least 15 other cases of kidnapping or racketeering. Posing as members of the National Front for the Liberation of Corsica or members of the French division of the PFLP, they threatened several high-ranking CEOs including Jérôme Clément, president of the European TV operator Arte, Rony Brauman, former president and co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, and the CEO as well as another high-ranking member of a large company selling home appliances. They sent threatening pictures of an unknown man dressed as a middle-eastern Arab in front of a picture of Osama bin Laden. In another case, the owner of a large grocery store was directed to pay €100,000.
In total, 27 individuals were under investigation and were subsequently put on trial. Among these:

Youssouf Fofana, the self-proclaimed Brain of the Barbarians. He was born in Paris to immigrants from Ivory Coast and served time in prison for various crimes including armed robbery, car theft and resisting arrest. In an interview he denied killing Halimi, but showed no remorse for his actions.
Christophe Martin-Vallet, nicknamed Moko, a French man originally from Martinique, specializing in computers. He appears to have masterminded the kidnapping and to have been the lieutenant of Fofana. He is suspected of other kidnappings and was responsible for the honeypot activities of the girls.
Jean-Christophe Soumbou, also known as Craps, Crim or Marc. Fellow inmate of Fofana. Imprisoned for car theft with violence. Supplied the car with which Halimi was transported. He is also suspected of other kidnappings.
Jean-Christophe Gavarin, usually known as JC or by his nickname Zigo, one of the individuals who tortured Halimi. He was a minor at the time of the crime. He had been expelled from school and had been involved with the law because of a theft and possession of cannabis. He has admitted to pushing a burning joint in the face of Halimi.
Samir Aït Abdelmalek, nicknamed Smiler, who was the owner of the apartment and is considered the right-hand man of Fofana. Had been convicted for possession of drugs and car theft. He also furnished the acid used to burn Halimi.
Jérémy Pastisson involved in a number of kidnapping cases, his car was used to transport Halimi.
Tiffenn Gouret, former girlfriend of Jean-Christophe Gavarin and friend of Arbabzadeh, supplied Fofana with "bait". She is also suspected in other kidnappings.
Sorour Arbabzadeh nicknamed Yalda, a seventeen-year-old French-Iranian girl who acted as appât to entrap Halimi.
Sabrina Fontaine, was used as bait in other kidnapping cases.
Audrey Lorleach, nicknamed Léa or Natacha, young student who was used as bait. She turned herself in and served 9 months in prison.

Others who were implicated:

Gilles Serrurier, nicknamed the concierge, was the caretaker of the apartment building to which Halimi was taken and who lent the gang the apartment and cellar in which they held and tortured Halimi.
Yahia Touré Kaba, nicknamed Yaks, one of the jailers.
Fabrice Polygone, one of the jailers.
Jérôme Ribeiro, known as Coup de Tête . Although he had left the group, he was promised a lot of money. One of the jailers.
Guiri Oussivo N'Gazi and Francis Oussivo N'Gazi, friends of Ribeiro who acted as one of the jailers.
Nabil Moustafa, known as Bilna, pizza delivery man, one of the jailers.
Cédric Birot Saint-Yves, known as Babas, friend of Nabil Moustafa, one of the jailers.

Many others were implicated, but their direct connection to the crime could not be proven.