A year after the events, the trial begins Wednesday of three Muslim teenagers aged 12 to 13, accused of the anti-Semitic gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in the Paris suburbs. The attack took place in June 2024 in Courbevoie, in the Hauts-de-Seine department.
The three minors appeared in camera before the Nanterre juvenile court. Two of them are being prosecuted for gang rape, the third for complicity. All are also accused of sexual assault, attempted extortion, and gang violence, these offenses being classified as aggravating circumstances due to the anti-Semitic nature of the events.
An ambush orchestrated by the ex-boyfriend
On Saturday, June 15, 2024, the girl contacted the police in tears. She said she was gang raped while walking home after spending time with a friend. On her way home, she encountered two teenagers who blocked her path and forced her to follow them into an abandoned building, where a third accomplice joined them.
Among the attackers was her former boyfriend, described by the girl’s lawyer to Le Parisien as “the leader or organizer of this ambush.” The trigger for this violence: the girl had hidden her Jewishness from her Muslim classmates.
Anti-Semitic violence and humiliation
The victim’s testimony reveals the extent of the abuse she suffered. Beaten by the teenagers, she was forced to perform sexual acts under threat of death, accompanied by anti-Semitic remarks. One of the attackers questioned her about Israel, called her a “dirty Jew,” and demanded that she convert to Islam.
The torturers made her swear by Allah not to reveal anything and held a lighter to her face to further terrorize her. Part of the attack was filmed by the attackers themselves.
A tense post-October 7 context
This incident sent shockwaves through the country. It occurred eight months after the Hamas attacks of October 7, in a climate of heightened anti-Semitism and tensions linked to the conflict in Gaza. The French Jewish community, already concerned about the upsurge in anti-Semitic acts, was particularly shaken.
Jacques Kossowski, mayor of Courbevoie, called for exemplary sanctions, while Gabriel Attal, then Prime Minister, denounced on social media a “monstrous and despicable act.”
Long-lasting psychological after-effects
The three teenagers were arrested on June 17, two days after the incident. Last July, the victim’s parents told BFMTV that their daughter remained traumatized. “She tries not to show it, she’s always smiling, but inside, she’s hurt,” the father testified. The girl has since changed schools to break away from the environment that saw her suffer.
The girl’s lawyer has confirmed her presence at the opening of the trial to give her testimony, marking a crucial step in a case that has French society questioning the rise of anti-Semitism among young people.
