Twenty-one suspected members of a self-styled "gang of barbarians" will be tried in France for the kidnapping and murder
of a young Jewish man in 2006, a legal source said on Tuesday.
Another seven suspects face trial for failing to report a crime, while one will be tried in a court for children because she was under 16 at the time of the attack on Ilan Halimi.
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Halimi, 23, was found naked, tortured and covered in burns near Paris on February 13, 2006 after being held captive for three weeks in a crime that shocked France and raised fears of surging anti-Semitism among French Muslims. He died of his injuries soon afterwards.
The kidnappers used a pretty young woman to entice Halimi into a trap, dragging the telephone salesman into a cellar where they proceeded to beat and torment him.
Police say the gang attempted a string of kidnappings of Jewish youths before capturing Halimi. They then sent a series of ransom demands to his parents, asking for as much as 450,000 euros, but lengthy negotiations failed to secure his release.
The self-proclaimed "brain of the Barbarians," Youssouf Fofana, was eventually arrested in the Ivory Coast.
Fofana and 18 other suspects are in jail pending the trial, which will be heard before a juvenile court because some of their number were youths at the time of the attack.
No trial date was set and a judicial source said it might not be held until 2009.
Fofana has told police he led the gang and organized Halimi's kidnapping but has denied killing him.
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