The Muslim who murdered Paris Jewish woman Sarah Halimi in April has been moved from a psychiatric hospital to a prison near Paris, raising hopes that he may be likely to face trial, Actualite Juive reported on Thursday.
The report published by the French Jewish paper said that Kobili Traore had been moved from the hospital to Fresnes prison, south of Paris, on July 11. The 27-year-old Malian immigrant who broke into Halimi’s apartment on April 4, beat her brutally while shouting Muslim slogans and then threw her from a third-floor window.
Traore’s attorneys have said that their client suffers from mental illness, a mitigating circumstance under French law. Halimi’s family and their supporters insist that Traore acted from Islamic religious motives, and therefore the murder must be tried as a hate crime, reported the Algemeiner Journal.
Alex Buchinger, a lawyer for the Halimi family, expressed surprise that Traore had been moved to prison before psychiatric assessment was published, which will be a key factor in deciding whether he is to stand trial. Buchinger said that he expected the assessment would be made available by August 22.
Halimi’s brother, William Attal, says the development enhances the family’s demand that Traore bear criminal responsibility for the murder. Attal noted in particular the fact that Traore was sent to prison only one day after his psychiatric assessment.
In a commentary on French website Dreuz, French psychiatrist Thierry Ferjeux Michaud-Nérard scoffed at the claim that Traore was suffering from a psychiatric illness that directly caused him to kill Halimi.
“It is not enough to make a diagnosis of schizophrenia, it is necessary to show how criminal behavior is its consequence, and not the criminal result of a dominant ideology of a radical Islamic and antisemitic nature,” Michaud-Nérard argued.