- January 21, 2006 began the ordeal of Ilan Halimi, a young seller of cell phones aged 23. Kidnapped and sequestered, he was tortured to death for three weeks by the “ gang of barbarians ” because Jewish.
- in 2009, Youssouf Fofana, head of “gang of barbarians” , was sentenced to life imprisonment with 22 years of security. 26 co-defendants received sentences of six months suspended to 18 years in prison, plus two acquittals.
- In the “Case of the gang of the barbarians” (Flammarion , 2010), our colleague Elsa Hale was traced, as close to the facts, the monstrous chain that led to the kidnapping and murder of the young man in appalling conditions. Here are excerpts we had then published
A hopeless stalking
[700 contacts in three weeks. Ilan's family Halimi framed by the police harassed by the gang holding his son. But "the kidnappers" - actually their leader Youssouf Fofana - beyond all monitoring ...]
The email, dated Tuesday January 31 at 12:11 , is sent to an Internet cafe located rue d’Alesia, in the 14th district of the capital. He says: “For the 2-2-06 everything must be met that will be the day of the collection I wait until 31-01-06 at 19:30 a yes answer from you on the following email address prison96 .. @ yahoo.fr to confirm freedom I will mention later by mail “
On the morning of February 1 , negotiators send their answer:” you have probably wrong victim. My son is a little gambler, he likes to be noticed, but we’re not a wealthy family. We are indebted to raise money, I can not do more. There is no need to contact the Ilan entourage or the Jewish community, WE CAN NOT PAY MORE THAN wHAT I PROPOSE TIME, for me it is a very large sum I am always willing to exchange. I give you the money in the manner you choose in the presence of my son. Otherwise I would have no guarantee that you will make him me alive once the ransom paid. Answer me on liberte966@yahoo.fr “[...]
at 6:50 p.m., the Yahoo internet service provider prevents criminal brigade someone just connect to an internet cafe located prison966@yahoo.fr street Fidelity in Paris in the 10th district. The district police is mobilized, staff leave at full speed of 36 Quai des Orfèvres, the forensic identification technicians follow. Too late. The people present at the scene describe all the passage of the same customer, one. Between 18:30 and 19 o’clock he came, moved upstairs, came out a few minutes later “almost not to race,” said a witness. A black man, 1.75 meters, 25-30 years, face hidden under a hat and scarf which left her eyes appear.
February 2 , a new display in the liberte966@yahoo.fr box. He just niaks05@yahoo.fr: “No cop by appointment or we blow a finger Rdv 1:30 p.m. before the KFC Châtelet I will be with a black leather jacket return all under him is in a car nearby…. we’ll all see it. You give me the bag. “
the abductor yet written the café of the Poirier-to-Narçay street in the 14th. The property is equipped with surveillance cameras. At the time of sending the last address shown on the videotapes a man of African origin. Police isolated dozens of photographs of the suspect: he wears a hooded jacket in beige or gray, with an “a” embroidered on the chest side heart, and on the right sleeve figure 03, a dark scarf hiding his face a black cap under the hood and black gloves.
In mid-afternoon, Didier Halimi meets the kidnappers: “I got your message too late, answer me to set new appointment.” Ten minutes later, an email with the subject “fingers” is posted: “On appointment there was the cops, you’re screwed you out of my mouth Now you will pay and how or I want or I cut him fingers. tonight and I will mail I await your reply before 16:30 “
the father of Ilan Halimi, assisted police, wrote:”.. I never told the police, I could not go to the appointment because I opened my mailbox too late. you have not read my mail niaks05? do not hurt Ilan, answer me, it’s OK to the appointment today “
at 17:30, an internet shop rue du Faubourg du Temple in Paris, the kidnapper gets mad”. There will be no appointment after that I have seen. If you’re willing to pay tomorrow as I want and I want or I send you some instructions. If you do not want, for tonight I cut her index and sends it to you early next week . I await your response before 18 hours “
Didier Halimi confirmed at 17h48:”. I agree to pay, do nothing to Ilan. Send your instructions. “
Yahoo Internet service provider prevents real-time teams Quai des Goldsmiths two connections. One at 16h55 in a payphone Street Tangier (19th arrondissement) the other at 18h20 rue Jean-Pierre-Timbaud (11th arrondissement). the police arrive at the payphone. They still miss the author of party posts here just five minutes. the store employee said that the original type Africa remained very short time, a few minutes [...]
at 18:20, the peacekeepers in foot patrol pick up a radio message requesting support for the Crim. must call any African person 1.75 meters near the 101, rue Jean-Pierre-Timbaud. a policeman just see a guy “of athletic build, wearing a sweatshirt with hood white, a dark scarf” that short. the patrol continues the individual, which turns several times, speeds, turns to the streets of the Crowns. And disappears. [...]
February 6 , at 11.30, the father of Ilan receives instructions to go Place de Clichy Only. With a mobile phone and money. Once there, we will contact at noon. Ilan’s parents believe it, this is perhaps the nightmare now, we will restore their son.
The police send Didier Halimi Place de Clichy. But without ransom. Yield to pressure, it is not in the habits of the house in kidnapping. Police are dozens, mingled in the crowd, on sidewalks, in shops, cafes. It’s time to fall on him, trapping the blackmailer who walks everyone for sixteen days now. Didier Halimi expected. The minutes are long as lives. Nothing comes. Between 12:27 ET 12:50, we phone him seven times, he was told to take a train to Brussels. Ilan’s father refuses. [...]
We must follow police instructions. Nobody answers. Mailboxes family and Mony fill. February 8 : “Well, as you do not want to win and we have not the money, I think we need to threat to kill him.” Or: “[...] If you think the situation is … we are blocked … your son is going to shoot him, what do you want?”
February 9 on the laptop Mony, thinks the kidnapper called the sister of Ilan:
You think your brother, I will release it like that, or what ? Free? You know ? Your brother, I will release him how? When there is dead [...]. Keep dogs tape, you’ll see … Strip bastards! “[...]
10, 11, 12 February 2006, nothing. From .. empty dead silence hours pass as so many hopes falling we fight, we repeat. must follow the instructions of the police, she knows what she does, she usually
February 13 , plagued by anxiety, worry kneaded, Didier Halimi holds no more, he asks for help to the boss of the Crim. Christmas Robin said that must resume contact with the kidnappers. But it’s too late. Two of his men spent the afternoon in the forensic unit of Evry hospital they attended the autopsy of a man found burned, dying, along a road in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois. the victim is circumcised, has two moles on the right cheek. Ilan Halimi died.
The famous criminal brigade was wrong. It did not matter to organized professional and meticulous that it is imagined, but “people with immature, irrational and constantly changing mind,” as stated François Jaspart, then boss of the Paris Judicial Police. This is only small strikes a miserable broken arm band.
The childhood of a megalomaniac
The small Yusuf’s mother “a good child, obedient respectful [...], although high as all the children of Africa. ” It’s his sister who accompanied him to the kindergarten Street Buttons and primary in the 12th district. She says he is “not violent, not a brawler,” it is even a boy rather “calm, without any particular problems,” a student “not brilliant” certainly, but not bad either. He charges a small delay, because of his language problems, for which he sees a speech therapist. He must learn to articulate, practice reading a lot. In fact, Youssouf Fofana stutterer, and lives cut off in shame. [...]
In college, Youssouf Fofana drift gently. He who saw “become a lawyer to defend the people” stands out because it does not work, barely to “discipline” to “control”. It is often “absent”, “agitated”, “casual”, a “tendency to discord.” String of petty theft, attempting to extort comrades. [...]
In March 1994, a change of scenery. This is where Youssouf Fofana sinks. And rocker. The family goes to a new life, another city. Bagneux, a suburb. But a true flat this time, in a housing project, five rooms, comfort, “the space, everyone has their little corner”, finally. The teenager continues to be noticed, the results are very bad, it is “disruptive and agitated” in class. Teachers summon his parents, never manage to see. [...]
It will definitely leave school in the fall of 1998. The police know him since he was 13-14 years. Because he fights. Because it runs in Bagneux on a stolen motorcycle. Because it flies. Because it treats a policeman “asshole” to “motherfucker”. In 1996, he drags in the 12th district with a buddy of his neighborhood. A young walking on a sidewalk player on the ears. They assaulted with a knife rushed into a small street. “An adult” passes. Fortunately. Fofana takes flight. The police found him. [...]
free but under surveillance, Youssouf Fofana followed by the Judicial Protection of Youth (PJJ) since 1995. Two years later, an educator of educational assistance center Châtillon wrote to the judge of the children following the teenager. She points out the many absences the young man to appointments set by its service, although they are mandatory as they are part of a judicial measure. And when he deigns exceptionally arise, Youssouf Fofana is “in denial of any problem.” His way of relating seems “to register for the sole balance of power.” [...]
(Eric Travers / SIPA)
He said he knew “little since that [ it] would become delinquent. [...] where it grows it is predisposed … the weight of dating at school, media weight, the TV, it has a greater impact than sometimes in the family ” . This is not quite the reality of his childhood: Youssouf Fofana was raised in a popular Parisian district near the Aligre market, he had 14 years when he arrived in Bagneux. Whatever. If he misses everything, it’s not his fault, it’s a matter of birth. [...]
What gives him the thrill, however, is to dream big bandit. Youssouf Fofana starts. First, it needs a “tool”. A “small”, preferably. O. Malik has the right profile. 16, needed money, he trusted the “big”. When Fofana offers him “a plan to make some money,” little did not hesitate. A Vanves, they jump two about a man who leaves his Golf GTI, sprinkle tear gas, hit him in the head, take his keys, leaving behind the wheel of his car. [...]
First episode prison to 19 years.
The prison is every day the same, it softens the brain, he says. I forget. “
He fights with supervisors discovered mitard, flees the nightmares insomnia, short of suicide, verging on madness. Religion catches. His older brother said that from there “was no longer the same. He had changed: it was even more withdrawn, there was more contact “[...]
The Fofana system
[After multiple and. unsuccessful attempts at blackmail, Fofana imagine attract his victims in an ambush by girls]
Fofana takes stock all the time then.. a team of small obedient, big burly, drivers with cars, equipment, weapons, handcuffs, Scotch, gloves, hoods a proscribe now. assaulted the victim in a building lobby, too much noise, too much shouting, too risky to be identified; tackle a corpulent person, unmanageable, she defends herself, and no way to make it into the trunk of a car There is almost still remains two “details” to adjust.. . Where will be held hostage, once removed? and the girl? [...]
a force to monitor every move of the district, to scrutinize the shortcomings of some, others to observe the relationships between them, tear, Youssouf Fofana knows exactly who to go to meet its needs. As he seeks a safe place to sequester his victim, he immediately think of someone. A type of city that maintains for a while good relations with keeper Serge-Prokofiev street. His name: Samir A. A., but in Bagneux is called “Smiler”. [...]
(Benedict Peyruck / AFP)
on Tuesday 18 January 2005, Samir goes to the lodge S. Gilles, as usual. He asked how it goes, and then if there is not, by chance, a free apartment right now, he could slip him the keys. This is not the first time Samir is legit, S. Gilles knows. There, Samir explains that this is for a friend of his, that there is some money to be made, it must Gilles S. correct. And this is perhaps an opportunity to please his wife, the guard think he will pay her the new kitchen she dreams. [...]
On the third floor staircase 1, Serge-Prokofiev street, housing becomes available. Three-room, two rooms that face both on a balcony, a large living room, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, linoleum floor, wallpaper on the walls. [...]
The choice of bait
At the same time it regulates the matter of the apartment, Youssouf Fofana must find the girl. [...] Yusuf wants Nour. He thought about it. Although he has little faith in it, we must recognize that it is very pretty, very convincing. It is a “stupid bitch”. And the key to its success is there. With it, for sure, boys fall for it. They follow, and that’s the most important. [...]
Nour does not think. It is just emerging from a suicide attempt, the second in the space of eight months. Nothing matters. Neither she nor the other. More marks, confusion, feelings of being at the bottom of an abyss where good and evil are one. [...]
Nour pushes the door Voltaire Phone Trade, located at 246 Boulevard Voltaire, the first, closest to where Youssouf Fofana comes from the file. Ilan Halimi it performs this Tuesday, January 17 replacement. He is alone. There is no other customer in the shop.
Nour wearing jeans, “white boots that go up to below the knee, a pink top, pink scarf for it is coordinated, and a long black coat and a khaki jacket. ” She is interested in phones, simpering, said it seeks a particular device, the Samsung D600. She mark, its price is high, too much for her, says she. Ilan Halimi notes his mobile number on a piece of paper, he ends up loving her when she is about to release. [...]
The martyrdom of Ilan
Ilan Halimi offers a drink to Alesia Bouquet. It takes an ice-tea. Him a Coke. “Alma” says she is 22, she lives in Fontenay-sous-Bois, she is a stewardess. He said “it [love] to travel and he [went] in lots of countries [...], that [a] two sisters, and he [lives] with his mother [ ...]. his father and mother [are] separated. he said he [has] worked in a real estate agency, but there he [works] in the shop of his father. “
It is not entirely comfortable, is that “Alma” is weird stressed. Yes, she is tired. He offers to take her home. That’s nice, she offered him a drink. In fact, in recent weeks, she took an apartment, alone, she said. A Seals. [...]
Ilan Halimi parks in the parking lot of the gym Clos-Saint-Marcel. In the bushes a little further, Fofana, “craps” and other kidnappers getting impatient and even preparing to leave when they finally receive footsteps. “Alma” distinguishes their silhouettes in the dark. She said: “I do not know where my keys are.”
Fofana and his accomplices jump on the young man, the electroplate ground. He screams. Taking blows to the face. Fofana ordered Nour, standing there watching, to clear. He pulls out a white cloth soaked in ether, the plate on the mouth and nose of the victim. Nothing to do, Ilan Halimi struggles, yells.
Nour fled to the parking lot below, where “Moko” must wait. She hears the distress of the young man for two minutes may:
He asked for help, he shrilly girl “
In his car, all. doors and windows closed, “Moko” listening to the radio.
Then Fofana released his Scotch roll, Cora bought that morning. They stick to the adhesive on the blood in the mouth of Ilan Halimi , his eyes too. He handcuffed hands. “We then loaded into the car,” said Jean-Christophe S. A safe without rear deck, where Ilan Halimi is still struggling.
Youssouf Fofana starts, passes Nour He has his hood, made a sign, she was wrong direction, it must retrace his steps to find “Moko” girl panic Cry Mr. Christophe recovers….
she was shaking, she was frightened. she regretted what she had done, she said Ilan was nice. ” [...]
On this night of midwinter, Ilan Halimi was found on the floor, eyes and mouth taped, bloody nose, handcuffed, feet bound. They just drop it there in an apartment without heating. He trembles with fear in the midst of an empty room, the last of the apartment, one corresponding to the end of the building. No neighbors behind the wall, one to hear the groans, complaints, pain. [...]
Mr Nabil, and Yahia K. Jicé are good soldiers. Who do not allow themselves to “ask [the] questions of people who are bigger” than them. Youssouf Fofana said Nabil M. he bluntly “indoctrinated” that the “small” even in the “devotion” vis-à-vis him. For them, Fofana is a “boss”. It has also not toiled to convince them to “keep someone for three days.” A Nabil M., nabbed the fly three days earlier in the street, he promises a little something. And “Bilna”, who then want a scooter, vacation, says yes.
On Friday, after prayers at the mosque and its working party as a deliveryman for Domino’s Pizza, it mounts his bike up the dark Serge-Prokofiev street to take his post. Keep the door to the kidnappers that deliver the victim. Same for Jicé, Fofana promised 7,000 euros on 18 January. Two days later he entrusted the keys of the apartment. [...]
They knew they did not say anything …
[Detained in an apartment then in a basement of a city of Bagneux, Ilan has lived a true martyrdom. His guards and even the concierge are silent ...]
Samir A. A., he is still waiting for the call from Fofana which must make him the keys to the apartment. But nothing comes. In the street he meets a “small” guarding Ilan Halimi. He questions, learns that Youssouf is in Africa. “It’s [is] fucking my mouth, it [is] party without warning. Apparently, it was the total blur. Nobody knew when he was coming back,” recalls Samir AA
To 18 hours, he goes up to the apartment. Jerome opens. “There was a Black asleep bundled up in a jacket,” he relates.
I went straight into another room and I saw Ilan. He was lying on the floor, naked under a white bathrobe. He was handcuffed in front and feet were tied by the silver tape. I did not see his face, he was completely mummified, I saw his nose. “[...]
He informs Gilles S. on the same day, the hostage is still . the guard held angry.. “This is shit, we must do something” Samir says he can do nothing, that any risk of falling back on them At 32, he is a family man, as S. Gilles, no question of putting in danger their Samir panic. “I did not know who was behind it, I saw a structure, there was to see other people that Youssouf.”
the caretaker, 41, in fear, granted three extra days to Samir for everyone out there. neither one nor the other think to call the police. a blow anonymous call might suffice No. That is a fact and a rule in the cities.. the police is seen as a problem so when we already have a big one, are not added one,. we do not call the cops. it is hiding in his cowardice, we pledged allegiance to silence on which the order of the entire neighborhood, as if it were a pledge of peace for all.
© Flammarion, 2010
[spelling mails was respected, Ed]
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