The suspected leader of a gang that tortured and killed a Jewish man near Paris appeared before Ivory Coast’s state prosecutor on Monday, but the government said extradition to his native France may take a week or more.
Police arrested Youssef Fofana, a French citizen, in Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan last Wednesday in connection with the brutal death of 23-year-old Ilan Halimi, which has triggered a public outcry over anti-Semitism in France.
Paris has requested his extradition.
Extradition process
“He is here with me. I have got all day for the hearing,” State Prosecutor Raymond Tchimou told Reuters by phone from the court house in Abidjan.
Ivorian Justice Minister Mamadou Kone said Tchimou would officially inform Fofana about the international arrest warrant and prosecuting authorities would then verify Fofana’s identity.
Another hearing would need to be organized within a maximum of eight days before extradition could take place, he said.
“The process is a long one and I don’t think he will be extradited for at least a week,” Kone told Reuters. “At the end of the procedure, the President must sign a decree ordering his extradition.”
Outrage in France
Halimi was found naked, tortured and burned south of Paris after being held for three weeks by a gang demanding a large ransom. He died of his injuries shortly afterwards.
Initially, French police said Halimi’s murder was motivated by greed, not religion, but Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy later said it was an anti-Semitic crime based on a belief that Jewish people had money.
Tens of thousands of people, including politicians from left and right, marched through Paris and other cities on Sunday to denounce racism and anti-Semitism after the killing.
French judges have said Fofana, born in France to parents from former colony Ivory Coast, has admitted his participation in Halimi’s kidnapping but denied all involvement in his murder and said he did not act out of anti-Semitism.
Dispute over motive
Fofana told French television he had seized Halimi for money.
“The kidnapping was for financial reasons,” he told France’s i-tele television in an interview broadcast on Monday.
French police accuse Fofana’s gang of trying to kidnap six other people, four of them Jewish.
Seventeen people have been indicted in France in the case and one suspect arrested in neighboring Belgium.
