Abduction and murder of Ilan Halimi

Ilan Halimi, a mobile phone salesman aged twenty-three, was lured into a trap in Paris in January 2006 by a young woman acting as bait, then held captive in Bagneux, in the Hauts-de-Seine, by a gang that called itself the "gang des barbares." His captors tortured him for three weeks while demanding from his family a ransom they assumed would be considerable because he was Jewish. Abandoned near a railway line in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in mid-February, he died during his transport. The investigation established that the antisemitic motive was not incidental but primary; the trial recognized this aggravating circumstance. The affair left a lasting mark on the Jews of France and fed the public debate on antisemitism in the banlieues.