French Man Sentenced to 25 Years for Racially Motivated Murder of Moroccan Neighbor

The facts date back to May 2018. One Sunday, Claude Gorsky had shot his neighbor, Saïd El Barkaoui, a 38-year-old Moroccan, five times. This father of six children died fifteen days later from a ruptured aneurysm. Placed in pre-trial detention on May 22, 2018, the alleged murderer had been acquitted on December 10, 2019 by the Pau investigation chamber.

Claude Gorsky pleaded self-defense throughout the trial, reports France info. Accused of committing a racially motivated homicide, he denies it. "I was accused of not having feelings, it’s false. I feel them enormously, but I can’t express them," he says. In his indictment, the public prosecutor of Mont-de-Marsan, Olivier Janson, dismantled what he calls "the Gorsky defense system which consisted in saying throughout the trial ’I didn’t want to kill him. I’m not racist. I just defended myself’". He describes a man with a narrow vision, devoid of any humanity. "You are the only one responsible for this tragedy," he added.

Convinced that it was indeed a racist crime, the public prosecutor requested 25 years of imprisonment without life imprisonment. "My conviction is that the prosecutor’s requisition is disproportionate to the facts. Mr. Gorsky did not kill Mr. El Barkaoui. This is a reality, because several experts have told you so," pleads Anthony Sutter, the defendant’s lawyer.

The lawyers for the victim’s family insisted on the racist nature of the crime. "Gorsky killed in a racist fury," said the lawyer for the Movement against Racism and Friendship between Peoples (MRAP). "The whole family of Saïd El Barkaoui remained dignified throughout the trial. We did not see the same thing on the other side," noted the lawyer for the victim’s sister, Jamila El Barkaoui.

After the pleadings, the jurors examined the file and then deliberated. Claude Gorsky was sentenced to 25 years in prison.