It is for "murder of a vulnerable person and committed because of the religion of the victim", that the two suspects of the murder of Mireille Knoll will be tried at the assizes.

On March 23, 2018, the body of this 85-year-old Jewish woman, suffering from Parkinson's disease, was found stabbed with 11 stab wounds and partially charred in her HLM, in eastern Paris. 

An act committed "because of his religion"

According to this impeachment order dated July 10, two men, Yacine Mihoub, the son of a neighbor, 30 years old and who had known the octogenarian since childhood, and Alex Carrimbacus, a marginal of 24 years in the psychiatric history, will therefore have to appear in accordance with the requisitions of the prosecution for this murder, aggravated by two circumstances: the fact that the old lady was a "vulnerable person" and that this act was committed "because of her religion".

The two men, who have continued throughout the investigation to reject responsibility for the crime, are also dismissed for "aggravated theft" and "degrading by means dangerous to people", and are kept in pre-trial detention, according to a judicial source.

A third person, the mother of Yacine Mihoub, is also referred to the assizes for "destruction of document or object concerning a crime or an offense to obstruct the manifestation of the truth", according to this source. She is particularly suspected of having cleaned the knife that was potentially used in the crime.

"Pressure from public opinion"

"As I have always said, Mrs. Knoll was killed both because she was an old person who was unable to defend herself and because she inspired particular detestation because of her Jewish origins," said AFP Me Gilles-William Goldnadel, lawyer for the Knoll family.

"The judges were unable to resist the pressure of public opinion," said Me Charles Consigny and Me Fabrice de Korodi, lawyers for Yacine Mihoub. "There is nothing in the file apart from the statements by Alexandre Carrimbacus which gives any anti-Semitic character to this affair," they said.

Alex Carrimbacus' lawyer was not immediately available to comment on this information. A year ago, a confrontation and re-enactment had been organized without shedding light on the facts, the two indicted accusing each other of fatal blows.

With AFP

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