French authorities have arrested twin brothers over the cutting down of an olive tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man tortured to death in 2006, prosecutors said Wednesday, August 27. The suspects are to be tried immediately in a fast-track process for the racially or religiously aggravated desecration of a monument, the public prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny said, confirming a report in French magazine Paris Match.
It was not immediately clear when the suspects had been arrested or precisely when the trial would take place, and their identities were also not made public. Paris Match reported that both men were of Tunisian nationality and did not have a permanent address. It said they had been identified through DNA.
An olive tree, planted in Halimi's memory in 2011, was felled earlier this month in the northern Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine, in an act that stirred outrage in the country. Politicians across the political spectrum condemned the act as an attack against the memory of Halimi, who was kidnapped by a gang of around 20 youths in January 2006 and tortured in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux. Found three weeks later, the 23-year-old died on the way to hospital.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the felling of the tree, vowing punishment for what he called an act of antisemitic "hatred." Officials pledged to plant a new tree as soon as possible.
The incident stoked fresh concerns about an increase in antisemitic acts and hate crimes in France as international tensions mount over Gaza. France's Jewish community, one of the largest in the world, says the number of antisemitic acts has surged following the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, which was followed by Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip and aid blockade.