French Court Rules Killer of Sarah Halimi Will Not Stand Trial

Signs claim Sarah Halimi was denied justice (Wikimedia Commons).

France’s highest court ruled that the man who killed Sarah Halimi will not stand trial and was not criminally responsible due to his consumption of cannabis before her murder. The decision came on April 14, just over 4 years after the incident, and ended the judicial proceedings in France. After the initial refusal to hear the case and the subsequent appeals from the Halimi family, the decision confirmed previous rulings from lower French courts. 

Kobili Traoré beat Sarah Halimi, an Orthodox Jewish woman, before throwing her out the window of her Paris apartment while shouting, “Allahu akbar,” and, “I killed the devil.” Traoré, who regularly smoked cannabis, has since admitted to the killing, which supposedly occurred after a delirious outburst. Her murder came among other anti-Semitic killings in France, such as the murder of three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse, sparking debate over anti-Semitism in France.

Halimi’s family initially appealed the Paris Court of Appeal’s decision in 2019, which stated that Traoré could not be tried. French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the findings of the court and emphasized the need for a trial. Macron faced great criticism for becoming involved in judicial matters. The hesitation to label the killing as anti-Semitic has also sparked outrage from the Jewish community.. 

The decision from the Cour de Cassation’s Supreme Court of Appeals, which can only determine if rulings by lower courts were correct, upheld the rulings from previous years. The lack of action is due to laws that state that courts cannot try people in altered mental states. Senators have since proposed a revision of the law to allow for trial for someone who is under the influence of narcotics and in a troubled mental state. Lawyers representing Halimi’s family have said that they intend to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Criticism has continued to mount after the most recent decision, not only from French Jews who consider this an additional failure of the French state to deal with anti-Semitism, but also from international organizations. The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) has criticized the sense of drama and tragedy that this decision adds to an already devastating event. 

France has been dealing with a troubling rise in anti-Semitic sentiment and violence for the past decade. This ruling is a symptom of a greater problem in dealing with anti-Semitism within France, which will only change with political and institutional transformations that have long been necessary.