Europe 1 with AFP 4:18 p.m., November 09, 2021

For the murder of Mireille Knoll, a Jewish woman killed eleven stab wounds in Paris in March 2018, the attorney general on Tuesday requested life imprisonment against Yacine Mihoub and eighteen years imprisonment against Alex Carrimbacus.

The attorney general on Tuesday requested life imprisonment against Yacine Mihoub and eighteen years imprisonment against Alex Carrimbacus for the murder of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Jewish woman killed by eleven stab wounds in Paris in March 2018.

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Yacine Mihoub, "the only author"

Yacine Mihoub, 32, is "the only author", "the sole responsible for the particularly savage murder of Mireille Knoll", estimated the magistrate, Jean-Christophe Muller, before the Assize Court of Paris. He did so "because she was in a state of vulnerability", and in "a context of anti-Semitism". The public prosecutor attached his requisition to life imprisonment with a security period of eighteen years against Yacine Mihoub, already convicted six times, notably for sexual assault.

Alex Carrimbacus, 25, is "neither an accomplice, nor a co-perpetrator of the murder" but by "contamination", his anti-Semitic character "is also attributable to him", added the Advocate General.

He called for an eighteen-year prison sentence for aggravated theft, with a nine-year safety period.

In addition, three years' imprisonment has been requested against Yacine Mihoub's mother, Zoulikha Khellaf, 61 years old.

She is accused of destroying items related to the crime scene and cleaning the knife used to kill Mireille Knoll.

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A national emotion

On March 23, 2018, firefighters called for a fire in an HLM in eastern Paris discovered on her medical bed the body of Mireille Knoll, larded by eleven stab wounds and partly charred.

During the investigation and throughout the trial, the two defendants delivered conflicting versions, incriminating each other for the murder, and dismissing any accusation of anti-Semitism.

Mireille Knoll's death came a year after the murder of Sarah Halimi, a Jewish sexagenarian thrown from her balcony.

It had sparked a great "white march" in Paris and relaunched the debate on anti-Semitism in France.