How killer on drugs escaped French trial for anti-Semitic murder
Sarah Halimi was a Jewish, 65-year-old, former kindergarten director, who in April 2017 was beaten, then thrown to her death from her flat in north-east Paris.
The killer was Kobili Traoré, a Muslim of Malian origin who was her neighbour. During the attack, which lasted between 20 and 30 minutes, he chanted verses from the Koran and shouted "Allahu Akbar" - God is greatest.
Loss of control
Two weeks ago, a decision by France's highest court of appeal, the Cour de Cassation, triggered a storm of indignation, primarily but not solely in France's Jewish community. Citing Article 122 of the Penal Code, the judges ruled that Traoré had been undergoing a "psychotic episode" at the time of the attack and that his "discernment" had been "abolished".
The fact that this loss of control was linked to his voluntary smoking of cannabis over many years was, said the court, irrelevant. The root cause of a madness was not an issue in law, the judges said, as long as the madness was established; and it had been, by independent psychiatric analysis.
And so the Cour de Cassation ruled that Kobili Traoré should not stand trial, but remain in the secure hospital where he has been kept ever since the murder.
A dangerous precedent
A week ago thousands protested against the decision in Paris and other cities. There is both reason and emotion behind their fury.
The most obvious argument against the ruling is that it creates a dangerous precedent. As more than one lawyer has pointed out, what now is there to stop other killers from claiming an "abolition of discernment" due to long-term drug or alcohol use?
This is all the more relevant because of the prevalence of cannabis abuse among so many of those found guilty, not just of crimes designated as "anti-Semitic", such as this one, but also of those designated as "terrorist".
"Don't ask me to explain the inexplicable," said lawyer Aude Weill Raynal. "In most cases, taking drugs is an aggravating factor in a case - and yet here it is regarded as extenuating."
