No Hate Crime Charge For Paris Jewish Woman’s Confessed Killer
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
PARIS (JTA) — Leaders of French Jewry strong criticized the absence of a mention of hate crime in the indictment of a man from Paris who in Aprilallegedly killed his Jewish neighbor while shouting about Allah.
CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish community, used uncharacteristically harsh language in criticizing the indictment for murder filed by prosecutors Wednesday against Kobili Traore, who confessed to killing 66-year-old Sarah Halimi on April 4 and throwing her dying body from the third-story window of her apartment.
“CRIF is astonished that the anti-Semitic character of the murder was omitted,” read the statement of the organization.
Traore, who has no history of mental illness, was initially hospitalized in a psychiatric institution as per his insanity plea. He knew that Halimi, a physician and kindergarten teacher, was Jewish and had called her daughter “dirty Jew” in the elevator two years ago, the daughter told French Jewish media.
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