France: Halimi girl had affair with prison chief

Head of Versailles women's prison suspended, investigated over affair with woman who delivered Jewish man to anti-Semitic gang which tortured and killed him. 'I fell in love,' he says

Ynet|Published: 01.13.11 , 17:04

The woman who was convicted of luring Ilan Halimi into a trap which saw him tortured and killed by an anti-Semitic gang allegedly had an affair with the head of Versailles women's prison, the BBC reported Thursday.

According to the report, the French prison chief, Florent Goncalves, (41) has been suspended and placed under investigation for passing money and other items to the French-Iranian inmate, who was 17 at the time of Halimi's murder in 2006.

The BBC said attention was drawn to Goncalves, 41, during a prison inspection in November when other inmates complained of favoritism.

A source close to the case told France's Le Parisien newspaper that the other inmates had not been aware of the prisoner's alleged sexual relations with the governor and that the favoritism was probably related to advantageous prison jobs.

According to the French newspaper, an internal investigation was launched and it was discovered that the prisoner, who is usually named as "Emma" or "Yalda" in the French media, had seduced both the governor and a guard, 36, in order to obtain parcels, money, and phone and Sim cards.

The source told Le Parisien that Goncalves, the unnamed guard and the prisoner were all placed under investigation in Versailles this week and all made confessions.

"The governor explains that he fell in love," the source added. Their affair is said to have taken place between December 2009 and October 2010.

Halimi, a Frehc Jew, was 23 years old at the time of his death. He was kidnapped on January 20, 2006 after "Emma" delivered him to his abductors, a gang called the Barbarians. Halimi was held captive for over three weeks. He was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks south of Paris on Feb. 13, 2006. He died on the way to a hospital.

A few weeks ago a French appeals court upheld the convictions of 16 people for their roles in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Halimi - handing down sentences of up to 18 years in prison.