The 17 defendants in the retrial of the gang of barbarians who tortured and murdered the young Jew Ilan Halimi five years ago were instructed to stand on their feet for the reading of the verdict in the court in Cartier. After consulting with the jury, which convicted 16 and acquitted one, the judge read the sentence of each and every defendant. The prison time added to the earlier sentences for the three primary tormentors was met with protest by their lawyers.
A reporter for a Jewish radio station described a tense atmosphere in the courtroom, but said no surprises were expected. A group of Jews crowded at the gate until Shabbos began and policemen were deployed nearby. The time of the reading of the verdict, after Shabbos started, may have been deliberately chosen to prevent a melee upon exiting the courthouse. At the time, the Jews of Cartier were in shuls. The dimensions of the worst antisemitic crime perpetrated in France since World War II were diminished and whitewashed in this trial as well. Halimi was kidnapped, tortured over the course of three weeks in a basement in a Parisian suburb and dumped by railroad tracks shortly before he succumbed to his wounds.
After seven weeks of painful closed-door hearings, during which the prosecutor and the judge went into great detail regarding the crimes committed, the judge issued a harsher sentence by adding three years' imprisonment to seven of the defendants and upheld the previous sentences imposed on the other 10. Yet he continued to ignore many of the prosecutor's demands.
The General Prosecutor delivered a tough, eight-hour speech focusing on the antisemitic nature of the heinous crimes. He recalled each of the defendant's role in the crime and asked the judge to sentence the three main tormentors to 20 years' imprisonment.
The judge decided to mete out lighter punishments, sentencing Jean-Christophe Soumbou, who organized the kidnapping and ran the torture in the basement, to 18 years in prison. Samir Ait Abdelmalek was also given 18 years instead of 15.
Youssouf Fofana of the Ivory Coast, the "brains" behind Halimi's kidnapping and murder, was sentenced in the first trial to 22 years without possibility of parole. During the sentencing hearing he was in his jail cell in Lille, in the north of France.
