Deadly Silence: Young Dentist’s Murder Exposes Code of Omerta in Seine-Saint-Denis

The tragedy dates back to Saturday, May 20, 2023. That night, the young dentist had dined at his aunt’s, before going out with his two cousins on Rue de l’Égalité. He was sitting with them at the bottom of a building when he was stabbed to death by a group of about ten individuals as he was protecting his cousins, after a scuffle during a birthday party a few hours earlier, reports Le Parisien. Rescued, he died a few hours later at the Bichat hospital in Paris.

In total, ten individuals were arrested after the murder of the young Algerian. They all come from the ZAC neighborhood in Pré Saint-Gervais. Seven young people were incarcerated. Under judicial supervision, one of the suspects "has always denied the facts," says his lawyer, Baptist Agostini-Croce. All the suspects refuse to talk about the tragedy. "We’re talking about omerta, we’re asking them for names, but they can’t express what they don’t know," explains Nabil Harmach, counsel for the brother of the previous one, 18 years old, detained and then placed in a closed educational center.

"On the pretext that they were there, that doesn’t mean they participated in the facts," continues the lawyer. These two suspects are known to the justice system for thefts, but "they have never been involved in serious delinquency," insists lawyer Harmach, who has filed a nullity petition. His client faces a sentence of life imprisonment, his minor brother, thirty years in prison.

Only Moussa*, still under judicial supervision and housed in a shelter, away from Les Lilas, agreed to break the silence. "He broke the omerta because of the seriousness of the facts. He was extremely touched by this tragedy and he considered that he had to say what he knew," explains his lawyer Acher Krief. According to him, his client does not deny having been at one point with those who went to Les Lilas. "He crosses their path as he is returning home. We see him at the birthday party. But at the time of the murder, he had already left the group and returned to his home," he adds, stressing that his statements do not allow to identify the author of the fatal blow.

But Moussa has received threats. "If you talk, we’ll kill you." His photo is circulating with this chilling caption: "He’s the snitch." On the street, he is the victim of an assault. "He almost got run over by a bus," his lawyer is moved. The young man ended up filing a complaint, but only for the theft of his briefcase. "He didn’t want to add to the violence," says his counsel. The malicious phone calls forced his family to move out of the ZAC.

Rayane’s aunt, a dentist in Pantin where the victim worked, is dismayed to learn that four of the seven young people incarcerated at the beginning of the case have been released. "It’s as if we were assassinating Rayane a second time," his aunt protested.