Macron vows justice after tree memorial for murdered Jew lower 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 Photos French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged that each effort will likely be made to trace down and punish the one that lower 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 stated the felling of the olive tree on Wednesday was "an try to 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 underneath approach, including: "Every little thing will likely be carried out 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 photographs 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 prison with a minimal time period of twenty-two years, whereas different accomplices implicated within the crime obtained 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 Photos The tree within the suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine was certainly one of a number of memorials throughout the French capital for Halimi earlier than it was lower down.

The native authority stated it had been discovered lower down on Thursday morning, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/villeepinaysurseine/posts/pfbid0367FARdh8E2Yok8yZm8xh3WQTrRkrsaXGgQweuKqtKE8TvJPiXYeYcZ22zS2REPdCl?__cft__[0]=AZWIJuJ3jT4R63kc4sBXzBwSQ24FzWk-QOH-mcOxO5BHQrBklh5WdQP12eCCfU4mtVbBEDeGTpOTYjB1bbJ4KG6vwOM8ATP5fVzg_bghzsttjf1DzVEk0wyCDKCV3fm0_peOqB4tzzFLCPaCSG8Nokhith5SdT3N6f_VqjOIc267Uwd_JYe6AfnaovtF01Zsb3U&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R" class="sc-f9178328-0 bGFWdi">posting an image of it exhibiting the tree chopped off on the base and thrown into a close-by flowerbed.

Macron stated France "won't overlook this youngster 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 unending combat towards the lethal poison of hatred is our major 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 through which it was ripped off a wall and lined with antisemitic writing.