Defendant in Halimi trial throws shoes in courtJune 12, 2009
PARIS (JTA) -- The man accused of leading the gang that kidnapped and killed French Jew Ilan Halimi was expelled from court Thursday after throwing shoes.
Youssouff Fofana threw shoes at two occasions toward the bench where the family of Halimi and other plaintiffs normally sit, according to French reports. The Halimi family was not in court when the incident took place, wrote the French daily Le Figaro.
The trial against Fofana and 26 others involved in the 2006 kidnapping, torture and murder of Halimi, then 23, is closed to journalists. All reports about the trial are communicated through intermediaries who have access to the trial.
"All the Jews in the world are there, in the (plaintiff) box," Fofana reportedly shouted. "They are my enemies. This is an Arab attack with a booby-trapped shoe."
Fofana and some of the 26 others are also facing charges of anti-Semitism, because some suspects told police they targeted Halimi because he was Jewish. Fofana supposedly believed Jews were well connected and wealthy and therefore worth a larger ransom, according to testimony given to police.