Lyon trial opens to determine motive in killing of elderly Jewish man

Rachid Kheniche admits murdering René Hadjadj but denies any antisemitic intent.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A trial opened Monday in Lyon, France, to determine whether antisemitism motivated the 2022 murder of an elderly Jewish man by his neighbor.

Rachid Kheniche, 55, has admitted that he killed 89-year-old René Hadjadj by throwing him from the 17th floor of their apartment building, causing his immediate death.

He denies, however, that the victim’s religion played any role in the crime.

Kheniche told investigators that he was suffering a paranoid episode at the time and claimed he acted to “silence” Hadjadj, whom he accused of dropping by unannounced.

“I wasn’t feeling well, and I heard a voice telling me to throw him into the abyss,” he said.

After the killing, Kheniche reportedly tore up Hadjadj’s belongings and then returned to watching television.

Two psychiatric assessments conducted after his arrest found that Kheniche was mentally fit to stand trial and be held criminally responsible for his actions.

Under French law, a finding that the murder was motivated by antisemitism would constitute an aggravating circumstance, increasing the possible sentence from up to 30 years in prison to life.

The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) and the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA), which have joined the proceedings as civil parties, argue that Jew hatred was central to the crime.

“For us, the antisemitic nature of this crime is perfectly established,” said the groups’ lawyer, Frank Serfati.

French media reported that the two men lived alone on the same floor and regularly met for coffee or to discuss politics.

Kheniche’s attorney, Océane Pilloix, said her client was “not an antisemite at all,” describing him as a “sick man” and citing psychiatric findings of persecutory delusions and impaired judgment.

Police initially ruled out antisemitism, describing the killing as the result of a personal dispute.

That assessment changed following public outrage, particularly within the Jewish community, which was still outraged by the 2017 killing of Sarah Halimi and the court’s decision in the case.

Halimi, 65, was thrown from her apartment window by her neighbor, Kobili Traoré, who shouted antisemitic slurs.

France’s highest court later ruled Traoré not criminally responsible because he had ingested a large amount of marijuana, causing a psychotic episode, and sentenced him to hospitalization rather than prison.

In the current case, police later discovered several social media posts by Kheniche that angrily denounced people he identified as Jewish, even when they were not.