Murder of Sarah Halimi: demonstrations in France and Israel to demand "justice"
Demonstration in Paris to demand "justice for Sarah Halimi", April 25, 2021. AP - Michel Euler
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7 mins
Several rallies took place this Sunday, April 25 in Paris and Tel Aviv to "demand justice" in the case of the murder of Sarah Halimi.
This Jewish sexagenarian was killed in 2017 in Paris by her neighbor.
On April 14, the Court of Cassation confirmed the anti-Semitic nature of the assassination while confirming the criminal irresponsibility of the murderer, provoking the indignation of the Jewish community and part of the political class.
Up to the top of the state.
Emmanuel Macron wants to change the law.
His Minister of Justice launched the procedure, drawing the wrath of the magistrates.
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Several thousand people, more than 20,000 according to the prefecture of Paris, gathered today in France and in particular in Paris, at the call of citizens' collectives and representatives of the Jewish community.
They challenge the lack of trial after the 2017 murder of Sarah Halimi, a Jewish sexagenarian.
According to seven psychiatric experts, the perpetrator, a heavy cannabis user, was in the throes of a "delirious puff" when he killed his neighbor.
On April 14, the court of cassation confirmed the anti-Semitic nature of the crime, but also confirmed the criminal irresponsibility of the murderer.
Report in the demonstration in Paris
Pauline Gleize
The Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti wants to "
fill a legal void
", that of criminal irresponsibility.
The perpetrator of Sarah Halimi's murder has been deemed irresponsible by experts.
Except that the murderer had consumed a large amount of cannabis before hitting and killing Sarah Halimi.
An inexcusable circumstance for Emmanuel Macron.
"
Deciding to take narcotics and then go crazy should not in my eyes remove your criminal responsibility
", declared the Head of State, without implicating the magistrates.
This Sunday, the Minister of Justice announced that a bill would be presented at the end of May in the Council of Ministers.
Adoption scheduled for summer.
After the attack on Rambouillet and faced with accusations of laxity from the opposition, Emmanuel Macron is determined to show his firmness on the safe ground.
A few hundred people in front of the French embassy in Tel Aviv, April 25, 2021. © Michel Paul / RFI
A few hundred people in front of the French embassy in Tel Aviv, most of them Franco-Israelis who came to express their anger and their indignation and to denounce what several of them qualified as "
denial of justice and aberration.
», Reports our special correspondent in Tel Aviv,
Michel Paul
. For lawyer Johann Habib, the organizer of this rally, we must change French law as soon as possible: “
The goal is to show our anger, faced with this decision which is totally inadequate in relation to reality. This event also serves to show support and solidarity towards Sarah Halimi's family.
"
Among the speakers, the Israeli Minister for the Diaspora and two Knesset MPs.
For Éric Danon, the French ambassador, a question arises: how is it that these tragedies are multiplying in France?
For this to be no longer so we must continue to discuss it all together: “
Of course, I hear that everyone here that everyone hopes that all these demonstrations unite far beyond the Jewish community.
Everything related to anti-Semitism and justice affects the whole of France.
“
No law since Francis I is retroactive, recalled the diplomat.
Words that obviously did not convince some of the demonstrators.
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