Holocaust Victims Murderer In Paris Will Be Tried Immediately

Jewish camp illustration (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - Two men who allegedly killed a Holocaust victim in Paris during an anti-Semitic attack will be tried. This was conveyed directly by the Paris Prosecutor's Office.

Launching CNN, Wednesday, July 15, the victim was named Mireille Knoll. He was found dead in his apartment in Paris in 2018. In the attack that angered the French community, the 85-year-old woman was stabbed eleven times and her apartment set on fire.

Three charges were confirmed on July 10 by the Examining Judge. First, the two men were charged with murder of a vulnerable person because of the victim's religion. Second is severe theft. And lastly, evil with harmful intentions towards the individual.

One of the killers was neighbor Knoll who was 27 years old at the time of the stabbing. He had previously been jailed for sexually assaulting the daughter of housemaid Knoll.

Meanwhile, the second suspect was a homeless man who was 21 years old at the time of the murder. These two men argued that they were innocent.

Apart from the two persons, there was a person who was also charged in connection with this case, on the charge of "destroying documents or objects relating to crimes or offenses in order to prevent the truth from being upheld." This person is now under judicial supervision.

Escaped the Nazis

"In this case, there is ultimately justice. And nothing else," William Goldnadel, a lawyer for the Knoll family, posted on Twitter.

According to lawmaker Meyer Habib, Knoll escaped arrest by Vel 'd'Hiv' in 1942. The arrests were ordered by the Nazis and resulted in the mass arrest of 13,000 Jews in France.

Those detained while on the Vel 'd'Hiv cycling track in Paris. Thousands of these people were then sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Knoll's death in 2018 was condemned by Jewish political figures and organizations across France. French President Emmanuel Macron described the killings as a "terrible crime." In his comments, Macron also reiterated his "absolute determination to fight anti-Semitism."

Former Home Minister Christophe Castaner said that 687 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in 2019 in France. This figure is an increase of 27 percent compared to 2018 which had 541 anti-Semitic cases.