France teenager kidnapped Morocco mastermind convicted

In late July 2024, in Saint-Just, a 14-year-old boy is forced by young men into a vehicle. Their objective: to find the victim’s older brother, who owes 10,000 euros to an individual residing in Morocco. Unable to locate the debtor, the kidnappers take the teenager, his face hidden, to an apartment in Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne. Beaten and held captive, he is filmed on his knees pleading: "They’re going to kill me, pay". This horrific video is transferred to the Moroccan mastermind, who sends it directly to the victim’s father before the child is released.

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The three attackers and the mastermind appeared on May 13 before the criminal court of Bourg-en-Bresse. While the perpetrators admitted to the facts, the 25-year-old instigator, targeted by another drug investigation, denied ordering the abduction. He nevertheless acknowledged transmitting the images, according to Le Progrès. In court, the father of the traumatized young man criticized the defendants: "Imagine if one of your loved ones had been kidnapped?". The civil party’s lawyer recalled that the child had experienced a real "mock execution".

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Confirming that this case is intrinsically linked to trafficking, the prosecutor demanded custodial sentences. Following the hearing, the creditor based in Morocco, Huseyin Aksu, received the heaviest sentence with five years imprisonment. His accomplices, Smaïl Goujon, Chihed Bendjabou and Matis Pomeret, were respectively sentenced to four years (one suspended), three years (six months suspended) and three years (twenty-one months suspended). Prosecuted for lending the apartment and providing handcuffs, two young women were acquitted for lack of evidence.