Macron vows justice after tree memorial for murdered Jew minimize down

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fb76/live/74d376e0-7a85-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images A recently cut tree stump sits next to a memorial stone bearing flowers." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Photographs French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged that each effort will probably be made to trace down and punish the one who minimize down a tree commemorating a murdered Jew.

The memorial tree was planted 14 years in the past to honour Ilan Halimi, who was tortured and murdered by a Paris gang in 2006, sparking widespread shock and outrage on the time.

Macron mentioned the felling of the olive tree on Wednesday was "an try and kill him a second time", including: "All means are being deployed to punish this act of hatred."

Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez confirmed an investigation was below manner, including: "Every part will probably be executed to search out the perpetrators and convey them to justice."

Halimi's physique was discovered by a railway line handcuffed to a tree, bare and severely burned, having been held captive by the Barbarian gang for greater than three weeks.

He was lured by a feminine gang member to an empty house in February 2006, the place he was attacked and drugged.

The abductors tried unsuccessfully to extort a ransom of €450,000 ($600,000; £405,000) from his household, sending them harrowing pictures and video recordings.

The mastermind - Youssouf Fofana - focused Halimi due to his Jewish heritage, believing his household to be unduly rich.

Fofana was later sentenced to life in jail with a minimal time period of twenty-two years, whereas different accomplices implicated within the crime acquired lesser sentences.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a471/live/87bb49d0-7a86-11f0-ab3e-bd52082cd0ae.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images A tree stump sits next to a memorial stone bearing Ilan Halimi's name." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Photographs The tree within the suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine was one in all a number of memorials throughout the French capital for Halimi earlier than it was minimize down.

The native authority mentioned it had been discovered minimize down on Thursday morning, posting a picture of it exhibiting the tree chopped off on the base and thrown into a close-by flowerbed.

Macron mentioned France "is not going to overlook this little one of France who died as a result of he was Jewish".

"Within the face of antisemitism, the Republic is all the time uncompromising," he added.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou additionally blamed "antisemitic hatred" for the tree being felled.

"No crime can uproot reminiscence," he wrote. "The endless combat in opposition to the lethal poison of hatred is our main obligation."

In 2019, one other tree honouring Halimi was reportedly chopped down, in what officers on the time described as an antisemitic assault.

And in 2017, France's then-interior minister condemned the desecration of a plaque commemorating Halimi wherein it was ripped off a wall and coated with antisemitic writing.