People have protested across France after a man who pushed a Jewish woman to her death escaped trial because he was in a “delirious state” at the time.
Thousands filled the Trocadero Plaza in Paris – in front of the Eiffel Tower – in support of Jewish associations and organisations fighting antisemitism.
One banner read: “Jewish Lives Matter.”
Sarah Halimi, 65, died in 2017 after being pushed out of a window at her Paris apartment by a neighbour, Kobili Traore.
Traore, who has admitted pushing Ms Halimi, allegedly shouted Allahu Akbar (God is greater).
He was a heavy cannabis user and has been in a psychiatric hospital since Ms Halimi’s death.
In a ruling earlier this month, the Court of Cassation said there was enough evidence to show he was motivated by antisemitism.
But it added that a person who commits a crime while being in a “delirious state” cannot be sent to trial – even if that state is caused by the habitual use of illegal drugs.
“According to unanimous opinions of different psychiatry experts, that man was presenting at the time of the facts a severe delirious state,” the court said in a statement.
In French law, people cannot be held criminally responsible for actions committed while fully losing their judgment or self-control because of a psychiatric disorder.
In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, President Emmanuel Macron called for a change in the law and expressed his support for the victim’s family.
“Deciding to take narcotics and then ‘going mad’ should not, in my view, remove your criminal responsibility,” he said.
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti tweeted on Sunday that he will present a bill on the subject at the end of May.
It will seek to plug a legal vacuum in French law regarding the consequences of the voluntary use of drugs.
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